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VANDERLIP-HULBERT 


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ilTY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


IN  SEARCH    OF  A 
SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE 


AS  NARRATED  BY 

WASHINGTON  B.  VANDERLIP 

THE  CHIEF  ACTOR 

AND 

HEREIN  SET  FORTH  BY 

HOMER  B.  HULBERT 


ILLUSTRATED    WITH 
MANY   PHOTOGRAPHS 


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NEW  YORK 

THE 

CENTURY 

1903 

CO. 

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Copyright,  1903,  by 
The  Century  Co. 


Published,  October,  1903 


THE    DE  VINNE    PRESS 


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*^  "THE  LITTLE  MOTHER' 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     OUTFIT  AND  SUPPLIES 

Rumor  of  gold  in  northeastern  Asia— Plan  to  pros- 
pect through  Kamchatka  and  north  to  Bering  Strait- 
Steamer  Cosmopolite— Russian  law  in  the  matter  of 
liquor  traffic— I  make  up  my  party  and  buy  supplies- 
Korean  habits  of  dress— Linguistic  difficulties  ....        3 

II.  SAGHALIEN    AND    THE    CONVICT    STATION 

AT  KORSAKOVSK 
Departure  of  the  expedition— Arrival  at  Korsakovsk— 
Condition  of  convict  station— Freedom  allowed  prison- 
ers, most  of  whom  are  murderers— Wreck  of  the 
steamer  and  loss  of  outfit— Gold  lace  and  life-preser- 
vers-Return to  Korsakovsk— Russian  table  manners 
— The  Russian's  naive  attitude  toward  bathing — Some 
results  of  the  intermarriage  of  criminals — How  Yankee 
shrewdness  saved  some  confiscated  photographs — Pleas- 
ant sensations  on  being  shaved  by  a  murderer — Pre- 
dominance of  American  goods 20 

III.  PETROPAULOVSK     AND     SOUTHERN     KAM- 

CHATKA 

Volcanoes  of  Kamchatka  and  the  superstitious  natives 
—The  first  prospecting  trip— Copper  found,  but  no 
gold — Mosquitos  cause  an  evacuation  of  the  land — The 
tj'pical  Chinese  peddler 43 

IV.  SALMON-FISHING    IN    THE    FAR  NORTH 
Tide  that  rises  twenty-five  feet— Wholesale  suicide  of 
salmon — Fish-eyes  as  a  delicacy   for  sea-gulls — How 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

the  natives  store  fish  for  the  sledge-dogs — The  three 
varieties  of  salmon — An  Arcadian  land  for  the  birds    ,       51 


V.     THE    TOWN    OF    GHIJIGA 

The  sacred  icon  and  the  sewing-machine  both  in  evi- 
dence— The  native  "  process  of  getting  married  " — Mrs. 
Braggin's  piano — American  pack-saddles  and  Russian 
obstinacy— Theodosia  ChrisoflFsky  and  his  sixty  descen- 
dants   64 

VI.    OFF    FOR    THE    TUNDRA— A    NATIVE    FAMILY 
Hard  traveling — The  native  women — A  mongrel  race — 
Chrisoffsky's    home    and    family    and    their    ideas    of 
domestic  economy — Boiled  fish-eyes  a  native  delicacy — 
Prospecting  along  the  Ghijiga 79 

VII.    TUNGUSE  AND   KORAK   HOSPITALITY 

My  Korak  host — "  Bear  !  " — I  shoot  my  first  arctic  fox 
— My  Tunguse  guide — Twenty-two  persons  sleep  in  a 
twelve-foot  tent — Tunguse  family  prayers — The  advent 
of  Howka — Chrisoffsky  once  more 92 

VIII.    DOG-SLEDGING  AND  THE  FUR  TRADE 

Description  of  the  sledge  and  its  seven  pairs  of  dogs — 
The  harness — The  useful  polka — The  start-oif  a  gjTn- 
nastic  performance  for  the  driver — Methods  of  steering 
and  avoiding  obstructions  while  going  at  full  speed — 
Dog-trading  en  route — Dog-fights  are  plentiful — Prices 
of  sable  and  other  skins  in  the  native  market — The  four 
grades  of  sables — How  they  live  and  what  they  live  on 
— A  Russian  writer  on  sable  hunting— Days  when  a 
native  would  barter  eighteen  sable  skins  for  an  ax    .     .     116 

IX.  OFF  FOR  THE  NORTH -A  RUNAWAY 

My  winter  wardrobe  of  deerskin— Shoes  that  keep  the 
feet  warm  when  it  is  sixty  degrees  below  zero— Pie- 
mania,  a  curious  native  food  in  tabloid  form — Other 
provisions — Outline  of  proposed  exploration  about  the 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

sources  of  the  Ghijiga  River— Four  hours  of  sun  a  day 
— When  dog  meets  deer— A  race  for  life  and  a  ludi- 
crous denouement — More  queer  native  dishes — Curious 
habits  of  the  sledge-dog 139 


^ 


X.     THROUGH    THE    DRIFTS 

Sledging  over  snow  four  feet  deep — Making  a  camp  in 
the  snow — Finding  traces  of  gold — A  grand  slide  down 
a  snow-covered  hill — My  polka  breaks  with  disastrous 
results— Prospecting  over  the  Stanovoi  range  ....     155 


XI.     BURIED  IN   A   BLIZZARD 

A  trip  to  the  northern  side  of  the  Stanovoi  range  of 
>  mountains — Nijni  Kolymsk,  the  most-feared  convict 
station— Sledging  by  light  of  the  aurora — Lost  in  a 
blizzard  on  the  vast  tundra — Five  days  in  a  snow  dug- 
out—  I  earn  a  reputation  as  a  wizard — Back  at  Chris- 
oifsky's 167 


XIL     CHRISTMAS— THE    "DEER    KORAKS " 

I  celebrate  Christmas  day  with  the  over-kind  assistance 
of  two  hundred  natives — Koraks  as  sharp-shooters — 
Comic  features  of  a  Russian  dance — Off  for  Kaminaw 
— Another  runaway — Slaughtering  deer — A  curious 
provision  of  nature — Eight  families  in  one  yourta — 
Korak  method  of  washing  dishes — A  herd  of  ten  thou- 
sand deer 177 


XIIL     HABITS   AND   CUSTOMS   OF   THE   KORAKS 

The  hour-glass  houses— Their  curious  construction — 
The  natives  prove  to  be  both  hospitable  and  filthy — 
>v  Dialects  of  Dog  Koraks  and  Deer  Koraks — Some  un- 
pleasant habits— How  they  reckon  time — Making  liquor 
out  of  mushrooms — Curious  marriage  customs — Clothes 
of  the  natives — Queer  notions  of  a  deity — Jealousy  of  the 
wandering  Koraks — Thieving  a  virtue  and  childbirth  a 
social   function 205 


X  COXTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XIV.     OFF   FOR   BERING  SEA— THE   TCHUKTCHES 

The  Tchuktches  are  the  Apaches  of  Siberia — Their  hos- 
pitality to  Americans  and  their  hostility  to  Russians — 
Wherein  my  experiences  differ  from  those  of  Mr. 
Harry  DeWindt— Result  of  licking  a  piece  of  stone 
with  the  thermometer  at  45°  below  zero— Konikly — 
Power  of  moral  suasion  in  dealing  with  a  rebellious 
Korak— The  cure  of  a  dying  woman  and  the  disgust  of 
her  husband— PoU-tax  and  the  Tchuktches 22i 


XV.    A    PERILOUS    SUMMER    TRIP 

The  tundra  in  summer— Crossing  the  swift  Paran  River 
—Literally  billions  of  mosquitos— Unique  measures  of 
protection  against  these  pests— Mad  race  down  the 
/  L'chingay  River  on  a  raft— Lighting  a  fire  with  a  pistol 
— Narrow  escape  from  drowning — Fronyo  proves  to  be 
a  man  of  mettle— Pak  is  caught  stealing  from  slim  sup- 
ply of  provisions  and  receives  chastisement— Subsisting 
on  wild  onions  and  half-ripe  berries— Help  at  last  .     .     255 

XVI.     A  TEN-THOUSAND-MILE   RACE 

Persistent  rumors  of  gold  in  the  Tchuktche  peninsula 
—Count  Unarliarsky— I  am  called  to  Vladivostok  to 
fit  out  an  expedition— Our  vessel  arrives  off  Indian 
-I-  Point— Charging  through  the  ice-floes— A  meeting  with 
Eskimos— Our  prospecting  proves  fruitless — We  meet 
the  rival  expedition  in  Plover  Bay— Their  chagrin- 
The    end 292 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

Washington  B.  Vanderlip Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Map  showing  the  territory  covered  by  Mr.  Vander- 
lip in  his  search  for  a  Siberian  Klondike   ...  5 

Korean  Miners 15 

Market-place,  Korsakovsk,  Saghalien  Island     .      .  25 

Russian    Murderers    in    Angle    of    Prison-House, 

Korsakovsk,  Saghalien  Island 37 

Main  Street  of  Petropaulovsk,  Kamchatka  ...  45 

A  River  of  Dead  Salmon — August 53 

The  Salmon  Catch 57 

Ghijiga o      .      .      .  65 

Russian  Church,  Ghijiga     ........  71 

xi 


xii       LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


House  in  Ghijiga  occupied  by  Mr.  Vanderlip  and 

his  Party 75 

House  of  Theodosia  Chrisoffsky,  Christowic      .      .  8i 

Start    from    Ghijiga,    Summer-time.       Theodosia 

Chrisoffsky  and  Family — Fourteen  Children     .  87 

Village  of  Christowic,  Okhotsk  Sea 93 

Mr.  Vanderlip  on  "  Bill  " 99 

The  Pride  of  the  Family 105 

Mr.  Vanderlip  crossing  Turumcha  River       .      .     .  Ill 

Sledge-dogs,    showing    Harness    and    Method    of 

Hitching 119 

Mr.  Vanderllp's  Dog-sled  loaded 125 

Ghijiga  River  In  Winter 129 

Deer  crossing  River 141 

Reindeer 145 

Theodosia  Chrisoffsky,  Guide 151 

Mr.  Vanderlip  and  Reindeer  Team 157 

Native  Winter  Camp 163 

Mr.  Vanderlip  on  March  with  Deer  Outfit     .      .     .  173 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS       xiii 

PAGE 

Reindeer 183 


Herd  of  Reindeer .189 

Reindeer,  Herders  in  background 195 

Reindeer — Summer 201 

Upper  View  of  Underground  Hut — Home  of  the 

Dog  Korak 207 

Chinese  Pump 213 

One  of  the  Tchuktches — an  unconquered  Race      .  227 

Summit    of   Kamchatka — First    Sight    of   Bering; 

Sea 233 

Kassegan,  half-caste  Russian  trader,  and  Korak 
wife,  hving  at  Bocta,  Baron  KofF  Bay,  Kam- 
chatka         239 

In  Crater  of  Extinct  Volcano,  digging  for  Sul- 
phur.   Baron  Koff  Bay,  Kamchatka   ....  245 

Killing  Deer  for  Dog-food 251 

Expedition  on  march — "  Konikly  "  in  foreground  257 

Across  the  Tundra      ....          .           ...  261 

Tundra  Camp 267 


>y 


xiv       LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

"  Kim  "  in  Summer  Camp  on  Tundra     ....     273 
Reindeer  Feeding 279 


'v 


Three    Little    Half-caste    Russians    and    Native 

Nurse,  Ghijiga,  Okhotsk  Sea 287 

Russian  Miners 293 

Picked  up  on  the  Ice  off  St.  Lawrence  Island    .     .  299 

Natives  at  Indian  Point,  Siberia 303 

Eskimo  Village,  East  Cape — Northeastern  Point 

of  Asia .  307 

Plover  Bay,  Siberia,  in  July 313 


PREFACE 

The  following  pages  are  the  result  of  one  of 
those  delightful  partnerships  in  which  the  party 
of  the  first  part  had  all  the  adventures,  pleasant 
and  otherwise,  while  the  party  of  the  second  part 
had  only  to  listen  to  their  recital  and  put  them 
down  on  paper.  The  next  best  thing  to  seeing 
these  things  for  one's  self  is  to  hear  of  them  from 
the  lips  of  such  a  delightful  raconteur  as  Mr. 
Vanderlip.  Whatever  defects  may  be  found  in 
these  pages  must  be  laid  at  the  door  of  the  scribe ; 
but  whatever  is  entertaining  and  instructive  is 
due  to  the  keen  observation,  the  retentive  memory, 
and  the  descriptive  powers  of  the  main  actor  in 
the  scenes  herein  depicted. 

H.  B.  H. 
Seoul,  Korka,  December,  1902. 


IN   SEARCH   OF  A   SIBERIAN 
KLONDIKE 


IN  SEARCH  OF  A  SIBERIAN 
KLONDIKE 


CHAPTER  I 

OUTFIT   AND    SUPPLIES 

Rumor  of  gold  in  northeastern  Asia — Plan  to  prospect 
through  Kamchatka  and  north  to  Bering  Strait — 
Steamer  Cosmopolite — Russian  law  in  the  matter  of 
liquor  traffic — I  make  up  my  party  and  buy  supplies- — 
Korean  habits  of  dress — Linguistic  difficulties. 

WHEN  the  rich  deposits  of  gold  were  found 
on  the  Yukon  River,  and  later  in  the  beach 
sands  of  Cape  Nome,  the  question  naturally  arose 
as  to  how  far  these  deposits  extended.  Sensa- 
tional reports  in  the  papers,  and  the  stories  of 
valuable  nuggets  being  picked  up  along  the  ad- 
jacent coast  of  Asia,  fired  the  imagination  of  the 
Russians,  who  hoped,  and  perhaps  not  without 
reason,  to  repeat  the  marvelous  successes  which 
had  been  met  with  on  the  American  side.  The 
existence  of  valuable  gold  deposits  in  other  parts 
of  Siberia  lent  color  to  the  belief  that  the  gold- 
bearing  belt  extended  across  from  America  to  Si- 


4.  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

beria,  and  that  consequently  the  Asiatic  shores  of 
Bering  Sea  ought  to  be  well  worth  prospecting. 

No  people  were  ever  more  alive  to  the  value  of 
mineral  deposits  than  the  Russians,  and  none  of 
them  have  been  keener  in  the  search  for  gold.  As 
evidence  of  this  we  have  but  to  point  to  the  vast, 
inhospitable  wilderness  of  northern  Siberia,  where 
gold  has  been  exploited  in  widely  separated  dis- 
tricts and  under  conditions  far  more  trying  than 
those  which  have  surrounded  any  similar  under- 
taking, with  the  exception  of  the  Klondike. 

I  had  left  Chittabalbie,  the  headquarters  of  the 
Oriental  Consolidated  Mining  Company, — an 
American  firm  that  is  successfully  exploiting  the 
gold  deposits  of  northern  Korea, — and  being 
enamoured  of  a  wandering  life,  I  found  myself 
one  morning  entering  the  magnificent  harbor  of 
Vladivostok,  the  eastern  terminus  of  the  Sibe- 
rian Railway  and  the  principal  Russian  distribut- 
ing center  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

I  believed  that  as  the  northeastern  extremity  of 
Asia  was  as  yet  virgin  ground  to  the  prospector, 
there  would  be  no  better  opportunity  for  the 
practice  of  my  profession  than  could  be  found  in 
the  town  of  Vladivostok.  The  surmise  proved 
correct,  and  I  was  almost  immediately  engaged 
by  a  Russian  firm  to  make  an  extended  prospect- 
ing tour  in  Kamchatka,  through  the  territory 
north  of  the  Okhotsk  Sea  and  along  the  shores  of 


Map  showing  the  territory  covered  by  Mr.  Vanderlip 
in  his  searcli  for  a  Siberian  Klondike. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  7 

Bering  Sea.  This  arrangement  was  made  with 
the  full  cognizance  and  approval  of  the  Russian 
authorities.  I  carried  a  United  States  passport. 
The  Russians  gave  me  another  at  Vladivostok, 
and  through  the  Governor-general  at  that  place  I 
secured  an  open  letter  to  all  Russian  magistrates 
in  eastern  Siberia,  instructing  them  to  give  me 
whatever  help  I  might  need  in  the  procuring  of 
food,  sledge-dogs,  reindeer,  guides,  or  anything 
else  that  I  might  require.  Not  only  were  no  ob- 
stacles put  in  my  way,  but  I  was  treated  with  the 
utmost  courtesy  by  these  officials,  who  seemed  to 
realize  the  possible  value  of  the  undertaking. 

My  instructions  were  to  go  first  to  the  town  of 
Petropaulovsk,  on  the  southern  point  of  the  pe- 
ninsula of  Kamchatka,  and  explore  the  sur- 
rounding country  for  copper.  The  natives  had 
brought  in  samples  of  copper  ore,  and  it  was  also 
to  be  found  in  the  beach  sands  near  Petropaul- 
ovsk, as  well  as  in  a  neighboring  island,  called 
Copper  Island,  where  the  Russians  had  opened 
up  a  mine  some  seventy  years  before,  but  without 
success.  I  was  next  to  go  north  to  Baron  KofF 
Bay,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the  peninsula,  near 
its  neck,  and  examine  some  sulphur  deposits 
which  were  supposed  to  exist  in  that  vicinity  and 
which  the  government  was  very  desirous  of  work- 
ing. From  that  point  I  was  to  cross  the  neck  of 
the  peninsula  by  reindeer  sledge  to  the  head  of 


8  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

the  eastern  branch  of  the  Okhotsk  Sea,  my  ob- 
jective point  being  Cape  Memaitch,  where  I  was 
to  prospect  for  gold.  It  had  been  reported  that 
on  two  successive  years  an  American  schooner 
had  touched  at  this  point  and  carried  away  full 
cargoes  of  gold  ore  to  San  Francisco.  I  was  then 
to  pass  around  the  head  of  the  Okhotsk  Sea  to 
the  important  trading  town  of  Ghijiga.  This 
was  the  headquarters,  some  thirty  years  ago,  of 
the  Russo-American  Telegraph  Company,  with 
which  Mr.  George  Kennan  was  connected  and 
where  he  spent  one  winter. 

Making  this  my  headquarters,  I  was  to  work 
out  in  various  directions  in  search  of  the  yellow 
metal,  and  finally  I  was  to  use  my  own  judgment 
as  to  whether  I  should  strike  northeast  to  Bering 
Strait,  following  the  Stenova  range  of  moun- 
tains, or  southward  to  Ola,  where  a  steamship 
could  stop  and  take  me  off  the  following  sum- 
mer. As  we  shall  see,  the  main  points  of  this  plan 
were  carried  out,  though  not  in  the  order  here 
given. 

As  to  the  means  for  reaching  Kamchatka  I 
had  no  choice.  There  is  no  royal  mail  steam- 
ship route  to  these  boreal  regions.  A  "  tramp  " 
steamship  is  annually  chartered  by  the  great  firm 
of  Kunst  and  Albers  in  Vladivostok,  and  re- 
chartered  by  them  to  the  Russian  government,  to 
take  the  Governor-general  on  his  annual  visit  to 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  9 

Saghalien  and  the  trading  posts  in  Kamchatka, 
and  even  as  far  northward  as  Anadyr,  situated 
inland  from  Bering  Sea  on  the  Anadyr  River. 
At  each  of  these  trading  posts  is  a  Russian  magis- 
trate, or  nitcheilnik,  and  a  guard  of  about  twenty 
Cossacks.  The  annual  steamer  carries  the  sup- 
plies for  these  officials  and  for  the  traders,  as  well 
as  the  goods  which  are  used  in  trade.  On  her  re- 
turn, the  steamer  brings  back  the  furs  of  the  Rus- 
sian Chartered  Company,  who  hold  all  the  furring 
rights  of  northeastern  Siberia. 

In  the  summer  of  1898  the  steamer  Cosmopo- 
lite was  scheduled  to  make  the  annual  voyage. 
She  was  a  German  tramp  steamer  of  one  thousand 
tons.  Besides  the  captain  there  was  but  one  other 
foreign  officer.  The  crew  was  Chinese.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  annual  mails  she  carried  a  full  cargo  of 
tea,  flour,  sugar,  tobacco,  and  the  thousand  and  one 
articles  that  make  the  stock  in  trade  of  the  agents 
of  the  Chartered  Company.  She  was  allowed  to 
carry  no  wines  or  liquors,  with  the  exception  of 
sixty  bottles  of  vodka  for  each  trader,  and  that 
for  his  private  use  only.  He  is  strictly  forbidden 
to  sell  a  drop  to  the  natives.  For  a  first  offense 
he  is  heavily  fined,  and  for  a  second  he  serves  a 
term  of  penal, servitude  on  the  island  of  Sagha- 
lien. This  law  is  in  brilliant  contrast  to  the 
methods  of  other  governments  in  respect  to 
liquors.    Africa  and  the  Pacific  Islands  bear  wit- 


10  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

ness  to  the  fact  that,  from  the  standpoint  both  of 
humanity  and  mere  commercial  caution,  the  Rus- 
sian government  is  immeasurably  ahead  of  other 
powers  in  this  respect.  The  sale  of  intoxicants 
demoralizes  the  natives  and  "  kills  the  goose  that 
lays  the  golden  egg.''  Of  course  there  is  an  occa- 
sional evasion  of  the  law.  The  natives  of  Siberia 
are  passionately  fond  of  spirits  of  any  kind,  and, 
having  tasted  a  single  glass,  will  sell  anything 
they  have — even  their  wives  and  daughters — for 
another.  When  they  are  in  liquor  a  single  wine- 
glass of  vodka  will  induce  them  to  part  with  furs 
which  in  the  London  market  would  bring  ten 
pounds.  Besides  this  annual  steamship,  two  Rus- 
sian men-of-war  cruise  north  along  the  coast, 
looking  for  American  whalers  who  bring  alco- 
holic liquors  to  exchange  for  skins. 

I  decided  to  take  with  me  two  Koreans  from 
Vladivostok.  They  were  gold-miners  from 
southern  Siberia.  Being  expert  horse-packers 
and  woodsmen  and  speaking  a  little  Russian, 
they  were  sure  to  be  of  great  use  to  me.  They 
were  named  Kim  and  Pak  respectively;  both  are 
among  the  commonest  family  names  in  Korea, 
the  Kim  family  having  originated  at  least  as  early 
as  57  B.  c.  Kim  was  thirty  years  old  and  was 
possessed  of  a  splendid  physique.  He  could  take 
up  four  hundred  pounds  of  goods  and  carry  them 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  without  resting.    Koreans  are 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  11 

taught  from  childhood  to  carry  heavy  weights  on 
their  backs.  They  use  a  chair-like  frame,  called  a 
jigi^  which  distributes  the  weight  evenly  over  the 
shoulders  and  hips  and  enables  them  to  carry  the 
maximum  load  with  the  minimum  of  fatigue. 
Kim  was  always  good-natured  even  under  the 
most  discouraging  circumstances,  and  he  was 
fairly  honest.  Pak  was  thirty-eight,  tall  and 
thin,  but  enormously  strong.  He  enjoyed  the 
possession  of  only  one  eye,  for  which  reason  I 
promptly  dubbed  him  "  Dick  Deadeye."  He  was 
a  cautious  individual,  and  always  "  packed  "  his 
money  in  his  clothes,  sewed  up  between  the  vari- 
ous thicknesses  of  cloth;  and  whenever  he  had  a 
bill  to  pay  and  could  not  avoid  payment,  he  would 
retire  to  a  secluded  place,  rip  himself  open,  and 
return  with  the  money  in  his  hand  and  a  mj'^ste- 
rious  look  on  his  face,  as  if  he  had  picked  the 
money  off  the  bushes. 

Having  secured  the  services  of  this  precious 
pair,  I  promptly  marched  them  off  to  the  store  of 
one  Enoch  Emory  to  exchange  their  loose  Ko- 
rean clothes  for  something  more  suited  to  the 
work  in  hand.  This  Enoch  Emory,  by  the  way,  is 
a  character  unique  in  Siberian  history.  When 
sixteen  years  old  he  came  out  from  New  England 
as  cabin-boy  on  a  sailing  vessel  which  had  been 
sent  by  an  American  company  to  establish  trad- 
ing stations  on  the  Amur.    He  left  the  vessel  and 


12  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

went  into  one  of  the  company's  stores.  He  now 
"  owns  "  the  company  and  is  one  of  the  wealthiest 
merchants  in  Siberia.  The  company  operates  im- 
mense stores  in  Nikolaievsk,  Blagovestchensk, 
and  Khabarovka,  with  a  large  receiving  store 
at  Vladivostok.  Emory  always  favors  American 
goods  and  sells  immense  numbers  of  agricultural 
implements  and  of  other  things  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  which  America  excels.  This  is  the  only 
great  American  firm  in  Siberia.  Emory  makes 
his  home  in  Moscow  and  comes  out  once  a  year  to 
inspect  his  stores.  He  is  a  typical  Yankee  of  the 
David  Harum  stamp. 

When  my  two  proteges  came  to  change  Korean 
dress  for  American  it  was  difficult  to  decide  just 
where  the  dress  left  off  and  the  man  began.  The 
Korean  bathing  habits  are  like  those  of  the  me- 
dieval anchorite,  and  an  undergarment,  once 
donned,  is  lost  to  memory.  Besides  the  two  Ko- 
reans, I  engaged  the  services  of  a  Russian  secre- 
tary named  Nicolai  Andrev.  He  was  an  old  man 
and  not  by  any  means  satisfactory,  but  he  was  the 
only  one  I  could  get  who  knew  the  Russian  min- 
ing laws  and  who  could  make  out  the  necessary 
papers,  in  case  I  should  have  occasion  to  stake  out 
claims.  As  it  turned  out,  he  hampered  the  move- 
ments of  the  party  at  every  turn;  he  could  not 
stand  the  hard  knocks  of  the  journey,  and  I  was 
obliged  to  drop  him  later  at  the  town  of  Ghijiga. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  13 

His  lack  of  teeth  rendered  his  pronunciation  of 
Russian  so  peculiar  that  he  was  no  help  to  me  in 
acquiring  the  language,  which  is  not  easy  to  learn 
even  under  the  best  of  circumstances.  I  was  also 
accompanied  by  a  young  Russian  naturalist 
named  Alexander  Michaelovitch  YankofFsky. 
As  this  name  was  quite  too  complicated  for 
everyday  use,  I  had  my  choice  of  paring  it  down 
to  "  Alek,"  "  Mike,"  or  "  Yank,"  and  while  my 
loyalty  to  Uncle  Sam  would  naturally  prompt  me 
to  use  the  last  of  these  I  forbore  and  Alek  he 
became.  He  did  not  take  kindly  to  it  at  first,  for 
it  is  de  rigueur  to  address  a  Russian  by  both 
his  first  and  second  names,  the  latter  being  his 
father's  name  with  vitch  attached.  This  was  out 
of  the  question,  however,  and  he  succumbed  to  the 
inevitable. 

So  our  complete  party  consisted  of  five  men, 
representing  three  languages.  None  of  my  men 
knew  any  English,  and  I  knew  neither  Russian 
nor  Korean,  beyond  a  few  words  and  phrases. 
But  before  two  months  had  elapsed,  I  had,  by  the 
aid  of  a  pocket  dictionary,  my  little  stock  of  Ko- 
rean words,  and  a  liberal  use  of  pencil  and  paper, 
evolved  a  triglot  jargon  of  English,  Korean,  and 
Russian  that  would  have  tried  the  patience  of  the 
most  charitable  philologist. 

The  steamer  was  to  sail  in  eight  days,  and  this 
necessitated  quick  work  in  making  up  my  outfit. 


14  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

For  guns  I  picked  a  twelve-bore  German  fowl- 
ing-piece with  a  rifle-barrel  beneath,  in  order  to 
be  equipped  for  either  small  or  large  game  with- 
out being  under  the  necessity  of  carrying  two 
guns  at  once ;  a  Winchester  repeating  rifle,  45-90 ; 
an  .88  Mannlicher  repeating  rifle;  and  two  45- 
caliber  Colt  revolvers.  As  money  is  little  used 
among  the  natives  of  the  far  North,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  lay  in  a  stock  of  goods  to  use  in  trade. 
For  this  purpose  I  secured  one  thousand  pounds 
of  Moharka  tobacco.  It  is  put  up  in  four-ounce 
packages  and  costs  fifteen  rouble  cents  a  pound. 
I  procured  also  two  thousand  pounds  of  sugar 
both  for  personal  use  and  for  trade.  This  comes 
in  solid  loaves  of  forty  pounds  each.  Next  in 
order  came  two  thousand  pounds  of  brick-tea. 
Each  brick  containis  three  pounds,  and  in  Han- 
kau,  where  it  is  put  up,  it  costs  twelve  and  a  half 
cents  a  brick.  It  is  made  of  the  coarsest  of  the 
tea  leaves,  twigs,  dust,  dirt,  and  sweepings,  and  is 
the  kind  universally  used  by  the  Russian  peasan- 
try. I  also  secured  one  hundred  pounds  of  beads, 
assorted  colors,  and  a  goodly  stock  of  needles,  to- 
gether with  ten  pounds  of  colored  sewing-silks 
which  the  natives  use  to  embroider  the  tops  of 
their  boots  and  the  edges  of  their  fur  coats. 
Then  came  a  lot  of  pipe-bowls  at  a  cent  apiece, 
assorted  "  jewelry,"  silver  and  brass  rings,  silk 
handkerchiefs,  powder  and  shot,  and  44-cahber 


o 


w*^ 


iu..it^ 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  17 

cartridges.  The  last  mentioned  would  be  use- 
ful in  dealing  with  the  natives  near  the  coast, 
who  commonly  use  Winchester  rifles.  Those 
further  inland  use  the  old-fashioned  musket  ex- 
clusively. 

For  my  own  use  I  laid  in  a  goodly  supply  of 
Armour's  canned  beef,  canned  fruits,  dried  fruits, 
lime-juice,  bacon,  three  thousand  pounds  of 
beans,  canned  tomatoes,  tinned  butter,  coffee, 
German  beef -tea  put  up  in  capsules  an  inch  long 
by  half  an  inch  thick  (which  proved  extremely 
fine),  and  canned  French  soups  and  conserves. 
Besides  these  things,  and  more  important  than 
all,  I  took  two  tons  of  black  bread — the  ordinary 
hard  rye  bread  of  Russia,  that  requires  the  use  of 
a  prospecting  hammer  or  the  butt  of  a  revolver  to 
break  it  up.  This  was  necessary  for  barter  as 
well  as  for  personal  use. 

Judging  from  my  experiences  in  Australia, 
Burma,  Siam,  and  Korea,  as  well  as  from  my 
reading  of  Nansen,  I  thought  it  best  not  to  en- 
cumber myself  with  any  liquors  excepting  four 
bottles  of  brandy,  which  were  carried  in  the  medi- 
cine-chest and  used  for  medicinal  purposes  only. 
My  medical  outfit  consisted  of  four  main  articles, 
quinine,  morphine,  iodoform,  and  cathartic  pills. 
With  these  four  one  can  cope  with  almost  any- 
thing that  is  likely  to  happen.  The  chest  con- 
tained also  bandages,  absorbent  cotton,  mustard 


18  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

leaves,  a  hot-water  bottle,  two  small  surgeon's 
knives,  and  a  pair  of  surgical  scissors. 

After  a  prolonged  search  for  really  good  pack- 
saddles,  I  concluded  that  such  things  v^^ere  un- 
known in  Siberia ;  so,  calling  in  a  Chinese  carpen- 
ter, I  gave  him  a  model  of  an  Arizona  pack-sad- 
dle, with  instructions  to  turn  out  a  dozen  at  the 
shortest  possible  notice.  I  proposed  to  teach  my 
Koreans  how  to  throw  the  "diamond  hitch,"  but  I 
found  later,  to  my  humiliation,  that  what  the  Ko- 
rean does  not  know  about  packing  is  not  worth 
knowing.  Either  Kim  or  Pak  could  do  it  quicker 
and  better  than  I.  Two  thousand  years  of  this  sort 
of  thing  have  left  little  for  the  Korean  to  learn. 

Mining-tools  were  of  course  a  necessity.  Even 
in  Vladivostok  I  could  not  secure  what  I  wanted. 
I  therefore  took  what  I  could  get.  I  purchased 
drills,  hammers,  a  crow-bar,  a  German  pump 
which  was  guaranteed  to  pump  sand  (but  which 
I  found  later  would  pump  nothing  thicker  than 
pure  water) ,  a  quantity  of  blasting  powder  called 
"  rack-a-rock,"  picks,  shovels,  wire,  nails,  and 
other  sundries.  The  Russian  shovel  is  an  instru- 
ment of  torture,  being  merely  a  flat  sheet  of  iron 
with  a  shank  for  the  insertion  of  a  handle,  which 
latter  is  supposed  to  be  made  and  fitted  on  the 
spot.  As  there  is  no  bend  at  the  neck  of  the 
shovel,  the  lack  of  leverage  makes  it  a  most  un- 
wieldy and  exasperating  utensil.    As  for  the  Rus- 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  19 

sian  pick,  it  has  but  one  point,  and  in  its  construc- 
tion is  clumsy  beyond  belief.  Even  the  Korean 
picks  are  better.  I  also  carried  a  simple  blow- 
pipe outfit,  an  aneroid,  a  compass,  gold-screens, 
and  gold-pans,  with  other  necessary  appliances 
for  prospecting.  These  preparations  were  made 
very  hurriedly,  as  the  Cosmopolite  was  the  only 
steamer  going  north  during  the  season. 

Tourists  sometimes  ask  if  it  would  not  be  pos- 
sible to  secure  passage  on  this  annual  steamer  and 
take  the  trip  along  the  coast  to  Bering  Sea  and 
back.  There  is  nothing  to  prevent  it.  The  trip 
of  three  months,  stopping  at  ten  or  twelve  points 
along  the  coast,  could  be  made  for  about  three 
hundred  roubles,  a  rouble  representing  fifty  cents 
in  gold.  But  the  trip  would  be  of  little  value  or 
interest,  because,  in  the  first  place,  the  natives 
bring  down  their  furs  to  the  trading  stations  dur- 
ing the  winter,  when  the  ice  makes  traveling  pos- 
sible, so  that  one  would  have  very  little  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  anything  of  native  life,  or  of 
securing  any  of  the  valuable  furs  that  come  out 
of  this  region  each  year.  It  would  be  impossible 
for  the  tourist  to  pick  up  any  good  ones  in  sum- 
mer. Outside  of  natives  and  furs,  it  is  difficult 
to  see  what  interest  there  could  be  in  such  a  trip, 
unless  the  tourist  is  studying  the  habits  of  mos- 
quitos  and  midges,  in  which  case  he  would  strike 
a  veritable  paradise. 


CHAPTER  II 

SAGHALIEN  AND  THE  CONVICT  STATION 
AT  KORSAKOVSK 

Departure  of  the  expedition — Arrival  at  Korsakovsk — Con- 
dition of  convict  station — Freedom  allowed  prisoners, 
most  of  whom  are  murderers — Wreck  of  the  steamer  and 
loss  of  outfit — Gold  lace  and  life-preservers — Return  to 
Korsakovsk — Russian  table  manners — The  Russian's  naive 
attitude  toward  bathing — Some  results  of  the  intermar- 
riage of  criminals — How  Yankee  shrewdness  saved  some 
confiscated  photographs — Pleasant  sensations  on  being 
shaved  bv  a  murderer — Predominance  of  American 
goods. 

4T  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  July  22, 
Xjl  1898,  the  Governor-general  with  his  wife 
and  suite,  resplendent  in  gold  lace  and  buttons, 
came  aboard  in  the  rain.  The  anchor  was  heaved 
up  and  we  pointed  southward  toward  the  open 
sea,  which  is  reached  by  way  of  a  passage  from 
half  a  mile  to  three  miles  wide  and  twelve  miles 
long.  The  shore  on  either  side  bristles  with  ar- 
maments which,  together  with  the  narrowness  of 
the  passage,  make  Vladivostok  entirely  impreg- 
nable from  the  sea. 

There  is  a  story,  however,  which  the  Russians 

20 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  21 

never  like  to  hear.  One  morning,  after  a  night 
of  dense  fog,  as  the  sun  cleared  away  the  mist, 
four  big  British  men-of-war  were  found  an- 
chored within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  city,  and 
could  have  blown  it  skyward  without  a  shot  from 
the  batteries,  being  safe  from  the  line  of  fire. 
Since  then  big  guns  have  been  mounted  to  cover 
the  inner  harbor.  Reaching  open  water,  we 
turned  to  the  northeast  and  set  our  course 
toward  the  southern  point  of  the  island  of  Sagha- 
lien,  for  the  Governor-general  was  to  inspect  the 
convict  station  of  Korsakovsk. 

Three  days  of  uneventful  steaming  at  ten 
knots  an  hour  brought  the  shores  of  Saghalien 
above  the  horizon.  We  saw  a  long,  curved  beach 
backed  by  low-lying  hills  covered  with  fields  and 
woodland.  As  the  place  could  boast  no  harbor, 
we  dropped  anchor  in  the  open  roadstead  a  mile 
from  shore.  Our  whistle  had  long  since  waked 
to  life  an  asthmatic  little  steam-launch,  which 
soon  came  alongside.  We  forthwith  invaded  her 
stuffy  little  cabin  and  she  waddled  shoreward. 

As  we  approached  the  rough  stone  quay,  we 
had  our  first  glimpse  of  Russian  convict  life.  A 
gang  of  prisoners  were  at  work  mending  the  sea- 
wall. Some  of  them  wore  heavy  iron  balls  at  their 
ankles,  which  they  had  to  lift  and  carry  as  they 
walked,  else  they  dragged  ponderously  along  the 
ground.    These  balls  would  weigh  about  a  hun- 


22  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

dred  pounds  apiece.  The  convicts  seemed  to  be 
well  fed,  but  were  excessively  dirty  and  unkempt. 
They  appeared  to  be  men  of  the  very  lowest 
grade  of  mental  development.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  no  political  convicts  are  confined 
on  the  island  of  Saghalien.  They  are  kept  in  the 
far  interior  of  Siberia,  where  the  chances  of  es- 
cape are  much  less,  and  where  there  is  no  possi- 
bility of  contact  with  others  than  their  own  jail- 
ers. The  convicts  on  Saghalien  are  almost  all 
desperate  criminals.  As  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
capital  punishment  in  Siberia,  Saghalien  is  the 
terrestrial  Valhalla  of  these  doomed  men,  a  sort 
of  ante-mortem  purgatoiy. 

We  stepped  out  upon  the  quay  and  walked  up 
into  the  town.  The  street  was  about  fifty  feet 
wide,  with  a  neat  plank  walk  on  either  side.  The 
houses  were  all  log  structures,  but  not  the  kind  we 
are  accustomed  to  associate  with  that  name.  The 
Russian  makes  the  best  log  house  in  the  world. 
The  logs  are  squared  and  carefully  fitted  to- 
gether. The  windows  are  mostly  double,  and  the 
houses,  all  of  one  story,  are  warm  enough  to  be 
habitable.  The  streets  are  lined  with  small  shops 
and  stores.  The  entire  population  outside  of  the 
officials  consists  of  convicts,  most  of  whom  enjoy 
almost  complete  freedom  within  the  limits  of  the 
town.  It  gives  one  a  queer  feeling  to  walk 
through  the  streets  of  a  town  and  know  that  all 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  23 

the  storekeepers,  carpenters,  blacksmiths,  clerks, 
butchers,  and  bakers  are  or  have  been  desperate 
criminals.  This  town  of  Korsakovsk  contains 
about  two  thousand  people,  of  whom  nine  tenths 
are  convicts. 

I  asked  if  I  might  inspect  the  prison,  expecting 
a  prompt  refusal,  and  was  surprised  when  in- 
formed that  I  could  go  wherever  I  pleased.  Ap- 
proaching the  main  entrance  to  the  prison,  I  found 
the  two  heavy  gates  off  their  hinges  and  the  con- 
victs coming  and  going  at  their  own  pleasure.  A 
sleepy  Cossack  was  on  guard,  and  he  did  not  even 
challenge  me.  The  prison  buildings  were  ar- 
ranged around  a  large  quadrangle.  The  pris- 
oners were  talking,  lying  about  at  their  ease,  with 
a  few  at  work  on  little  wood  carvings. 

I  was  astonished  to  see  no  prison  bars  any- 
where, but  after  I  had  looked  about  at  my  leisure, 
one  of  the  officers  took  me  in  charge  and  led  me 
into  another  part  of  the  grounds,  where  we  found 
a  sentry  on  guard,  armed  only  with  a  revolver. 
This  guard  took  us  in  hand  and  conducted  us  to 
a  small  building  which  appeared  to  be  heavily 
barred.  Inside  were  rows  of  clean,  dry,  white- 
washed cells,  half  a  dozen  of  which  were  occupied 
by  convicts  who  had  recently  committed  murder 
on  the  island,  and  were  about  to  be  sent  north  to 
the  dreaded  coal-mines,  where  they  would  be 
chained  to  wheelbarrows.     These  would  be  their 


24  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

constant  companions  for  seven  years,  night  and 
day,  summer  and  winter. 

In  the  workshops  the  convicts  seemed  to  be 
trying  to  do  as  little  as  possible.  They  w^ere 
making  tools,  hinges,  horse-shoes,  farming-im- 
plements, and  other  simple  ironwork.  In  another 
portion  of  the  shops  they  were  making  wagons 
and  carts.  Very  many  of  the  convicts  are  far- 
mers, and  they  seemed  to  be  cultivating  the  sur- 
rounding fields  with  success.  In  the  main  offices 
I  found  a  dozen  clerks  smoking  and  drinking  tea. 
They  were  all  convicts,  most  of  them  having  dark 
crimes  to  their  discredit. 

Leaving  the  prison,  we  walked  down  the  street 
and  soon  came  to  a  little  stand,  where  bread  and 
milk  were  being  sold  by  a  nice-looking  Russian 
girl.  I  asked  on  what  charge  she  had  been 
brought  to  Saghalien.  The  officer  interpreted  my 
question.  The  girl  laughed  and  said  that  she  had 
murdered  her  husband.  She  was  twenty-three 
years  old. 

We  had  arrived  at  ten  in  the  morning,  and,  as 
we  left  at  four  in  the  afternoon,  my  inspection  of 
the  town  was  necessarily  brief,  but  enough  had 
been  seen  to  give  impetus  to  even  a  very  ordinary 
imagination. 

When  we  had  all  embarked  again  and  the  bell 
in  the  engine-room  gave  the  signal  for  starting, 
we  were  enveloped  in  a  thick  mist ;  but  as  we  had 


p 
<-i 

n 

I 

SB 

n 


o 

H 
Oi 

p 
?r 

o 

p 

P 

I— ' 


P 

a. 


..^ 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  27 

open  sea  before  us  and  nothing,  apparently,  to 
fear,  we  drove  ahead  at  full  speed  through  the 
dense  fog,  pointing  southeast  in  order  to  round 
the  southern  point  of  the  island  and  make  our 
way  up  the  eastern  coast.  We  might  have  been 
more  cautious  had  not  the  Governor-general  been 
in  haste.  As  it  turned  out,  we  would  have  done 
better  to  proceed  more  slowly;  for  shortly  after 
eight  o'clock,  as  I  was  sitting  at  dinner  with  the 
captain  and  the  first  officer,  we  heard  the  second 
mate  on  the  bridge  call  loudly:  "  Hard  aport! 
Ice  ahead ! "  The  captain  rushed  to  the  bridge, 
and  I  made  my  way  to  the  prow  of  the  boat. 
Peering  through  the  fog  in  the  failing  light,  I 
descried  a  low,  white  line  that  looked  like  ice,  be- 
hind which  a  great  dark  mass  rose  high  in  the  air. 
We  had  not  begun  to  slow  down  yet,  and  almost 
instantly  we  struck  with  terrific  force,  which 
threw  me  to  my  knees.  I  scrambled  to  my  feet 
and  peered  over  the  rail.  I  saw  that  the  white 
line  was  not  ice,  but  surf,  and  the  dark  object  be- 
hind it  was  a  cliff  which  towered  hundreds  of  feet 
in  the  air. 

The  utmost  confusion  prevailed  among  the 
Chinese  crew  and  the  Korean  stevedores.  It 
looked  as  if  there  would  be  serious  trouble.  I 
made  my  way  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  my  state- 
room and  buckled  on  my  revolvers,  tore  my  valise 
open  and  stuffed  a  package  of  money  into  my 


28  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

pocket,  and  hurried  on  deck  to  help  put  down  any 
rush  that  the  Asiatics  might  make  for  the  boats. 
The  first  officer  was  sounding  the  forward  well, 
and  water  was  already  coming  into  the  engine- 
room.  The  steamer,  evidently,  was  making  water 
very  fast.  As  there  were  so  few  foreign  officers, 
and  as  the  Russians  were  of  no  use,  the  captain 
ordered  me  to  get  out  the  boats.  Amid  such  con- 
fusion this  was  no  easy  task,  but  by  means  of  the 
most  sanguinary  threats  and  the  show  of  my  re- 
volver, I  got  enough  men  together  to  swing  a  boat 
over  the  side. 

Fortunately,  there  was  no  sea  running  at  the 
time,  and  affairs  began  to  assume  a  more  hopeful 
aspect  when  it  was  found  that  we  lay  on  a  shelv- 
ing beach  and  could  not  sink.  We  hurriedly  sup- 
plied the  boats  with  casks  of  water  and  bags  of 
biscuits ;  but  as  there  was  no  immediate  danger  of 
sinking,  the  captain  asked  me  to  take  one  of  the 
boats  and  explore  the  shore  for  a  suitable  landing- 
place.  With  a  strong  headlight  in  the  prow,  we 
pushed  off  in  the  fog ;  and  within  an  hour  we  were 
back  with  the  news  that  half  a  mile  up  the  shore 
there  was  a  good  landing-place.  The  Governor- 
general  and  his  wife  and  staff  were,  of  course,  the 
first  to  be  sent  ashore.  The  lady  seemed  to  take 
it  very  coolly,  even  more  so  than  some  of  the  staff. 
The  latter,  as  soon  as  the  alarm  sounded,  had  has- 
tened to  their  state-rooms  and  put  on  their  swell- 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  29 

est  regimentals.  Their  gold  lace,  glittering 
swords,  and  patent-leather  boots  seemed  curi- 
ously out  of  place  on  board  the  wreck.  It  re- 
minded me  of  the  ancient  Persian  custom  of 
going  into  battle  in  full  regalia.  These  Russians 
left  everything  but  their  fine  clothes. 

In  due  time  they  were  landed,  and  then  we 
came  back  and  took  off  the  crew.  It  was  growing 
light  and  the  sea  was  rising.  The  steamer  began 
to  pound  on  the  reef,  and  it  was  evident  that  she 
would  not  hold  together  long.  The  captain  said 
he  was  going  to  stay  on  her  till  she  broke  up.  As 
I  was  an  enthusiastic  knight  of  the  camera,  I 
thought  this  would  be  a  good  opportunity  to  se- 
cure a  picture  of  a  ship  going  to  pieces,  so  I  deter- 
mined to  stay  with  the  captain  as  long  as  possible. 
We  remained  on  board  all  that  day  and  the  next 
two,  taking  watch,  by  turns,  six  hours  at  a  time. 
We  determined  to  rig  a  block  and  tackle  over  the 
after  hatch,  and  although  this  was  under  water, 
we  managed  to  get  hold  of  the  big  Russian  mail- 
bags  and  haul  them  out.  Among  other  things, 
they  held  fifteen  thousand  roubles  in  notes. 

During  the  second  day  of  our  detention  we 
sighted  the  British  gunboat  Archer  passing  us  to 
the  southeast  on  her  way  to  Kamchatka.  We 
tried  desperately  to  attract  her  attention  with 
bombs,  but  did  not  succeed.  Meanwhile,  the  chief 
officer  had  taken  the  long-boat  and  part  of  the 


30  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

crew  and  sailed  back  to  Korsakovsk  with  a  fair 
wind,  to  secure  help.  Three  days  later,  he  re- 
turned with  the  steam-launch  and  two  lighters, 
one  of  which  was  filled  with  convicts  who  had  been 
brought  to  help  in  getting  the  steamer  oif  the 
rocks,  if  possible.  If  not,  they  were  to  save  what 
cargo  they  could.  They  were  put  into  the  for- 
ward hold  and  a  few  cases  were  gotten  out,  but  all 
my  provisions  and  outfit  were  lost  except  my 
tent,  which  had  been  sent  ashore  for  the  Gov- 
ernor-general's wife.  This,  together  with  my 
valise,  camera,  guns,  and  ammunition,  was  all 
that  I  had  to  show  for  the  careful  preparation  I 
had  made. 

My  Russian  friends  had  not  enjoyed  their  stay 
on  shore  under  the  trying  conditions.  We  threw 
overboard  for  their  use  all  the  ducks  and  geese, 
which,  after  disporting  themselves  a  few  minutes 
in  honor  of  their  new-found  liberty,  made  their 
way  to  the  shore,  where  they  were  speedily  de- 
spatched with  axes  by  the  gentlemen  in  patent- 
leather  boots  and  gold  lace.  We  also  consigned  a 
pig  to  the  vasty  deep  and  it  nobly  struggled 
ashore  only  to  meet  the  common  fate  of  succu- 
lent pork.  Through  the  glass  I  could  see  the 
Governor-general  in  his  swell  regimentals  with  a 
row  of  medals  across  his  breast  lugging  an  armful 
of  driftwood  along  the  shore  to  the  fire. 

And  so  we  made  our  way  back  to  Korsakovsk,  a 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  31 

very  discouraged  and  bedraggled  company.  The 
Governor-general  took  me  to  the  house  of  the 
chief  magistrate,  where  I  was  given  a  comfortable 
room,  and  could  once  more  sit  down  to  a  good 
table.  That  night  I  ate  my  first  genuine  Russian 
dinner.  Each  person  as  he  enters  a  dining-room, 
faces  the  icon  which  hangs  in  the  corner,  and  bows 
and  crosses  himself.  The  table  was  loaded  with 
tinned  preserves,  pate  de  foie  gras,  caviar,  salted 
salmon,  herrings  pickled,  and  raw  fish,  sardines, 
cheese,  sliced  raw  onions,  cold  sausages,  raw  cab- 
bage, and  huge  piles  of  black  and  white  bread. 
There  was  also  the  usual  large  carafe  of  pure 
white  vodka,  a  powerful  distilled  liquor  made 
from  rye.  Before  eating,  every  glass  is  filled 
and  the  host's  health  is  drunk  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  "  Butches  sd  rovia,"  which  means, 
*'  Your  good  health." 

In  eating,  you  must  reach  for  what  you  want. 
It  is  very  seldom  that  anything  is  passed  during 
this  first  stage  of  the  meal.  You  would  never 
suggest  to  your  neighbor  on  the  right  to  pass 
you  the  cheese;  but  you  would  rise  in  your  place 
and,  with  a  firm  grasp  on  your  knife,  reach  over 
his  plate  and  impale  the  tempting  morsel.  If  this 
is  not  possible,  you  leave  your  place  and  go  around 
the  table  and  secure  your  loot.  There  is  only  one 
thing  that  they  will  readily  pass,  and  that  is  the 
vodka.    The  general  aspect  of  things  is  that  of  a 


32  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

well-patronized  free-lunch  counter  when  the  train 
is  to  start  in  five  minutes.  It  must  be  confessed 
that  Russian  table  manners  are  not  fashioned  on 
ordinary  European  models.  They  closely  resem- 
ble the  Korean  method  of  eating  at  a  public 
feast,  when  all  the  food  is  put  on  the  table  at  once. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  this  terminates  a  Rus- 
sian dinner.  It  has  only  begun.  By  this  time 
the  uninitiated  is  full  to  repletion  unless  he  has 
been  forewarned,  but  to  the  Russian  this  is  but 
the  ante-prandial  overture.  Everything  is  now 
cleared  off  the  table  except  the  vodka,  which  is 
never  out  of  sight,  and  the  dinner  proper  begins 
with  soup.  I  must  say  that  this  soup  is  the  heavi- 
est and  richest  it  has  ever  been  my  fortune  to 
taste.  Alone,  it  would  form  a  full  meal  for  any 
one  less  robust  than  the  ordinary  Russian.  Each 
guest  adds  to  his  soup  two  or  three  heaping 
spoonfuls  of  sour  whipped  cream. 

Their  method  of  eating  soup  appeals  as  much 
to  the  ear  as  to  the  eye.  Perhaps  they  go  on  the 
principle  that  soup  must  be  eaten  as  audibly  as 
possible,  for  this  means  that  it  is  so  good  you  can- 
not wait  for  it  to  cool. 

My  Russian  naturalist,  Alek,  was  a  fair  sample 
of  an  educated  Russian,  and  he  turned  to  me  and 
said: 

"  I  see  that  vou  eat  with  a  fork." 

"  Yes,"  said  I;  "  and  I  see  that  you  do  not." 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  33 

"  No ;  but  I  had  a  sister  who  studied  at  an  Eng- 
lish convent  in  Japan  for  a  year  or  so.  When  she 
came  back  she  ate  with  a  fork,  but  we  soon 
laughed  her  out  of  it." 

The  end  of  the  Russian  knife  is  broader  than 
the  portion  next  the  handle,  and  it  is  used  both  as 
a  knife  and  as  a  spoon.  They  complain  that  the 
American  knives  do  not  "  hold  "  enough. 

After  the  soup  came  fowls,  roast  meats,  vege- 
tables, and  two  or  three  more  dishes  made  of 
whipped  cream.  These  last  one  grows  to  like. 
Their  favorite  form  of  dessert  is  this  same  sour 
cream,  sprinkled  generously  with  sugar  and 
ground  cinnamon.  When  all  is  seemingly  over 
the  table  is  again  cleared,  and  the  samovar  is 
placed  steaming  upon  the  table.  Every  one  takes 
four  or  five  glasses  of  hot  tea,  flavored  with  sliced 
lemon.  Some  of  the  Russian  tea  is  very  fine.  It 
is  well  known  that  they  drink  the  costliest  as  well 
as  the  cheapest  grades.  It  is  more  than  likely 
that  not  a  pound  of  the  very  best  tea  grown  in 
China  ever  gets  farther  west  than  Russia. 

Meanwhile  every  one  is  smoking  cigarettes, 
men  and  women  alike;  not  only  after  dinner  but 
between  the  courses. 

My  use  of  the  fork  was  not  the  only  thing  that 
distinguished  me  while  in  the  country  of  the 
White  Czar.  Wherever  I  went,  the  Russians  were 
highly  amused  at   my  use  of  the  tooth-brush. 


34  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

which  they  consider  a  peculiarly  feminine  utensil. 
I  was  everywhere  embarrassed  by  the  total  ab- 
sence of  the  wash-bowl.  Such  things  seem  to  be 
unknown.  A  sort  of  can  or  ewer  of  water,  with  a 
valve  in  the  bottom,  lets  out  a  little  stream  of 
water  on  the  hands;  or,  oftener  still,  a  mouthful 
of  water  is  taken  from  a  glass  and  spurted  over 
the  hands — a  much  more  sanitary  method  than  the 
American,  since  the  Russian  does  not  wash  in  any 
vessel  which  has  been  used  by  others.  The  Rus- 
sian objects  to  any  bath  excepting  the  elaborate 
Russian  bath,  and  as  this  can  be  obtained  only  in 
the  centers  of  population,  the  result  is  not  edify- 
ing. Even  on  the  steamer,  where  hot  and  cold 
baths  could  be  had  for  the  asking,  the  bath-room 
was  not  patronized.  The  Russians  say  of  the 
Enghsh  and  Americans  that  they  bathe  so  much 
that  they  emit  an  oiFensive  odor,  which  turns  the 
tables  on  us  somewhat  surprisingly  and  casts 
some  doubt  upon  the  truth  of  the  proverb  that 
virtue  is  its  own  reward.  As  black,  the  most 
somber  of  all  colors,  is  in  truth  a  lack  of  all  color, 
so  perhaps  the  lack  of  any  distinctive  odor  in  the 
well-tubbed  Englishman  strikes  the  Russian  as 
unpleasant. 

One  of  the  waiters  in  attendance  was  a  young 
and  handsome  man  of  twenty-five,  convicted  of 
murder.  He  was  dressed  in  the  picturesque  cos- 
tume of  the  Cossack,  and,  strangely,  wore  a  dag- 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  35 

ger  at  his  side.  The  woman  who  brought  in  the 
samovar  had  killed  an  entire  family:  her  hus- 
band, father-in-law,  mother-in-law,  and  her  own 
child.  She  had  been  married  to  the  waiter  a  year 
since  arriving  at  Saghalien.  The  intermarriage 
of  criminals  raises  a  delicate  penological  question, 
considering  what  the  f  i*uit  of  such  unions  is  likely 
to  be. 

After  dinner,  I  suggested  to  one  of  the  Gover- 
nor's aides  that  we  take  a  stroll,  but  the  local 
magistrate  veteod  this,  saying  that  on  no  account 
must  we  go  out  on  the  street  after  six  o'clock  in 
the  evening.  Our  lives  would  be  in  immediate 
danger,  as  murders  among  the  convicts  averaged 
one  a  day  on  Saghalien.  Hundreds  have  broken 
away  and  escaped  into  the  interior  of  the  island, 
living  on  game,  roots,  and  berries.  Some  roam 
the  streets  at  night,  looking  for  plunder,  espe- 
cially when  a  steamship  is  in  harbor. 

The  following  day  we  passed  a  building  which 
seemed  to  be  full  of  women.  They  were  convicts 
recently  landed.  On  stated  days,  those  male  con- 
victs whose  conduct  has  been  uniformly  good  are 
taken  to  this  building  where  the  women  are  lined 
up  and  the  men  are  allowed  to  choose  wives  for 
themselves.  The  women  are  quite  willing  to  be 
chosen,  but  if  they  refuse  they  are  not  compelled 
to  marry.  Marriage  means  that  they  get  away 
from  the  confinement  of  the  workshops  and  gain 


36  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

a  snug  little  home  among  the  neighboring  hills, 
with  nothing  to  suggest  penal  conditions  except 
an  occasional  inspection.  If  they  consent  to 
many,  they  go  immediately  to  the  little  cathe- 
dral and  are  married  by  the  priest.  A  plot  of 
land  is  allotted  to  the  couple,  to  clear  and  culti- 
vate. Possibly  a  horse,  a  cow,  and  a  few  chickens 
are  given  them,  as  well  as  the  inevitable  samovar. 
Our  saying,  "  What  is  home  without  a  mother?  " 
might  well  be  rendered  in  Russian,  "  What  is 
home  without  a  samovar? "  All  the  money  that 
they  can  make  by  raising  produce  is  their  own, 
and  will  be  turned  over  to  them  upon  the  expira- 
tion of  their  sentences.  But  most  of  the  convicts 
on  Saghalien  have  sentences  which  terminate  only 
at  death. 

The  women  in  the  prisons  are  kept  busy  mak- 
ing clothes  for  such  convicts  as  have  not  been  let 
out  on  good  behavior. 

The  following  day  I  was  invited  to  attend,  at 
the  Greek  Church,  a  service  of  thanksgiving  for 
the  escape  of  the  passengers  and  crew  of  our 
wrecked  steamer.  The  service  proved  a  very  im- 
pressive one.  The  singing,  by  a  choir  of  convicts, 
was  especially  fine.  In  these  Russian  churches 
seats  are  not  provided,  and  the  audience  stands  or 
kneels  during  the  entire  service. 

That  afternoon  I  had  the  temerity  to  take  my 
camera  under  my  arm  and  stroll  through  the 


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SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  39 

prison  grounds.  To  my  great  surprise,  I  was 
permitted  to  take  what  photographs  I  pleased. 
Even  the  guards  Imed  up  and  were  "  snapped," 
much  to  their  dehght.  I  also  secured  a  picture  of 
a  convict  being  knouted  for  some  slight  misde- 
meanor. This  is  very  common,  and  is  done  by 
tying  the  offender  to  a  bench,  face  down,  and  in- 
flicting the  necessary  number  of  blows  on  his 
back. 

As  the  light  began  to  fail  I  remembered  the 
magistrate's  injunction  about  being  indoors  be- 
fore dark,  and  so  made  my  way  home  to  dinner, 
during  which  I  sat  at  the  same  table  with  the 
magistrate.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable 
ability,  and  made  good  use  of  the  English  lan- 
guage. During  the  meal  he  leaned  over  toward 
me  and  said,  smiling: 

"  I  understand  you  have  been  taking  some  pic- 
tures." 

"  Yes,"  I  answered  penitently. 

"  Well,  of  course  that  is  against  the  law,  and 
I  am  afraid  I  shall  have  to  ask  you  to  turn  those 
plates  over  to  me." 

I  expostulated  mildly,  but  found  that  his  mind 
was  firmly  made  up  on  the  matter.  To  tell  the 
truth,  my  mind  was  also  made  up  on  the  matter. 

"But,"  said  I,  "  the  plates  are  still  in  the 
camera,  undeveloped." 

"  Oh,  well,  bring  your  camera  along  and  I  will 


(Sw  X  (^_L  fJfJL 


40  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

develop  them  for  you," — this  with  a  little  smile  of 
amusement. 

"  Shall  I  go  now,"  said  I,  pushing  my  chair 
back  from  the  table,  although  dinner  was  not  half 
over. 

"  Don't  think  of  it.  To-morrow  morning  will 
do  just  as  well." 

And  to-morrow  morning  surely  did,  for  that 
night  the  camera  went  to  bed  with  me,  and  when 
the  magistrate  smilingly  drew  out  the  plates  next 
morning  and  cracked  them,  one  by  one,  on  the 
comer  of  the  table,  he  was  not  aware  that  he  was 
spoiling  fresh  plates.  I  tried  to  look  as  sad  as 
the  occasion  seemed  to  demand. 

I  asked  him  if  any  of  the  convicts  ever  escaped 
from  the  island.    He  gave  a  short  laugh  and  said : 

"  Some  of  them  got  away  once.  I  will  tell  you 
about  it.  A  Japanese  fishing-schooner  put  in 
here  under  stress  of  weather  and  anchored  off  the 
town.  That  night  eight  of  the  convicts  swam  off 
to  her,  murdered  the  crew,  and  sailed  away  with- 
out the  slightest  knowledge  of  navigation.  Af- 
ter drifting  about  aimlessly  for  several  days,  they 
were  picked  up  by  an  American  whaler  and  car- 
ried to  San  Francisco.  As  soon  as  the  facts  be- 
came known,  the  Russian  authorities  demanded 
their  extradition,  but  the  American  papers  took 
the  matter  up  and  made  a  great  outcry  about 
sending  back  these  innocent  political  convicts  to 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  41 

the  horrors  of  Siberia,  while  the  ladies  of  San 
Francisco  heaped  confections  and  flowers  upon 
them.  The  United  States  authorities  declined  to 
give  them  up,  though  it  should  have  been  well 
known  that  no  political  suspects  are  ever  sent  to 
Saghalien,  only  tried  and  condemned  criminals. 
But  mark  the  sequel.  Within  two  years  all  but 
one  of  those  eight  men  were  hung  for  murder, 
and  the  remaining  one  was  in  prison  for  life.  We 
appreciate  the  kindness  of  the  United  States  in 
relieving  us  of  the  support  of  these  criminals,  and 
she  can  have  all  the  Russian  convicts  on  the  island 
of  Saghalien  if  she  wants  them,  and  welcome." 

Saghalien  is  Russia's  gallows,  and  the  incident 
given  above  shows  how  philanthropic  zeal,  if  ill- 
informed  and  misdirected,  may  easily  work  harm. 

Having  occasion  to  interview  the  barber,  I  en- 
tered a  neat  shop  in  company  with  a  Russian  offi- 
cial. It  was  not  till  the  razor  was  playing  about 
my  chin  that  I  learned  that  the  barber  was  a  com- 
mon murderer.  There  was  no  backing  out,  for  I 
knew  not  what  savage  instincts  I  might  arouse  in 
him  by  proposing  to  leave  his  place  half  shaved. 
I  generally  manage  to  get  a  nice  little  nap  when 
under  the  soothing  influence  of  the  barber's  hand, 
but  this  time  I  confess  that  I  remained  rather 
wider  awake  than  usual.  The  gentle  reader  can, 
perhaps,  imagine  my  feelings  as  the  keen  steel 
rasped  across  the  vicinity  of  my  jugular  vein. 

3 


42  SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE 

Strange  to  say,  the  only  image  that  remains  in 
my  mind's  eye  is  a  staring  advertisement  which 
hung  against  the  wall,  and  which  expatiated  with 
Yankee  modesty  upon  the  merits  of  a  certain 
American  barber-supply  house  and  the  unique 
opportunity  it  offered  of  securing  the  best  goods 
at  the  cheapest  price.  I  was  informed  later  that 
this  barber  combined  with  his  tonsorial  occupa- 
tion that  of  procurer,  which  shows  how  wide  a 
range  of  pursuits  Russia  allows  her  convicts. 

A  superficial  examination  of  the  various  shops 
which  lined  the  main  street  of  the  town  showed 
that  American  canned  goods,  sheetings,  prints, 
flour  and  other  food-stuffs  are  most  in  demand. 
The  hardware  was  mostly  of  cheap  German 
manufacture.    I  saw  no  English  goods  displayed. 


CHAPTER  III 

PETROPAULOVSK  AND  SOUTHERN  KAMCHATKA 

Volcanoes  of  Kamchatka  and  the  superstitious  natives — The 
first  prospecting  trip — Copper  foimd,  but  no  gold — Mos- 
quitos  cause  an  evacuation  of  the  land — The  typical 
Chinese  peddler. 

UPON  our  return  to  Korsakovsk  from  the 
wreck,  the  Governor-general  had  imme- 
diately telegraphed  the  news  of  the  disaster  to 
Vladivostok,  and  had  asked  that  a  relief  steamer 
be  despatched  at  once.  In  six  days  we  saw  her 
smoke  on  the  horizon,  and  soon  the  Swatow,  fly- 
ing the  German  flag,  cast  anchor  off  the  town. 
She  was  accompanied  by  a  Russian  gunboat, 
which  carried  the  Governor-general  and  his  suite 
back  to  Vladivostok,  as  he  had  been  recalled  on 
urgent  business. 

I  found  that  the  Swatow  would  not  be  able  to 
go  up  into  Bering  Sea,  but  could  only  visit  the 
trading  stations  on  the  Okhotsk  Sea,  at  the  head 
of  which  lies  the  important  town  of  Ghijiga. 
Although  my  outfit  had  been  so  terribly  de- 
pleted in  the  wreck,  I  was  determined  to  push  on 
and    live    on    the    country    if    necessary.      The 

43 


44  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

steamer  had  brought  me  a  small  supply  of  brick- 
tea,  sugar,  and  hard  bread.  This  slender  store  I 
supplemented  as  best  I  could  from  the  shops  in 
Korsakovsk,  and  boarded  the  Swatow  en  route 
for  the  north. 

On  leaving  Saghalien  for  the  second  time,  we 
gave  the  southern  point  of  the  island  a  wide 
berth,  and  after  ten  days  of  uneventful  steaming 
we  sighted  the  shores  of  the  peninsula  of  Kam- 
chatka, which  showed  a  chain  of  loftv  snow-cov- 
ered  mountains,  now  and  again  hidden  by  dense 
banks  of  fog. 

We  entered  the  magnificent  harbor  of  Petro- 
paulovsk  by  way  of  a  narrow  passage,  and  found 
ourselves  in  a  landlocked  bay,  twenty-five  miles 
long  and  ten  miles  wide.  Its  shores  were  well 
wooded,  and  we  could  see  several  fine  streams 
as  they  made  their  way  swiftly  down  the  moun- 
tain-sides to  the  waters  of  the  bay.  At  the  north- 
ern extremity  of  the  harbor  rose  the  active  volcano 
of  Avatcha,  sixteen  thousand  feet  high  from  the 
water's  edge.  About  its  summit  lay  heavy  masses 
of  snow,  and  above  it  hovered  a  thick  blanket  of 
smoke.  Kamchatka  lies  in  the  line  of  volcanic 
activity  which  stretches  from  Tierra  del  Fuego 
in  South  America  northward  through  South 
and  North  America,  the  Aleutian  Islands,  Kam- 
chatka, the  Kurile  Islands,  Japan,  and  so  south- 
ward; and,  therefore,  it  is  not  surprising  that 


n- 

h 
(-1- 

c 

h— 

n 
n- 
^^ 
O 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  47 

there  should  be  many  semi-active  volcanoes  on 
the  peninsula  as  well  as  many  hot  springs.  The 
natives  consider  both  of  these  the  habitations  of 
evil  spirits,  and  will  not  go  near  them  if  it  can  be 
helped.  Once  a  party  of  Russians  forced  the  na- 
tives to  show  them  the  way  to  one  of  the  hot 
springs,  and  when  the  superstitious  people  saw 
the  foreigners  looking  over  the  edge  of  the 
spring,  tasting  of  the  water  and  cooking  eggs  in 
it,  they  were  filled  with  wonder,  and  thought  the 
Russians  had  power  over  the  demons.  In  port 
we  found  the  British  gunboat  Archer  and  a  small 
Russian  gunboat. 

The  town  of  Petropaulovsk  consists  of  about 
three  hundred  Russians  and  half-caste  Kamcha- 
dales,  presided  over  by  a  Russian  magistrate,  as- 
sisted by  a  secretary,  a  physician,  and  twenty 
Cossacks.  With  the  exception  of  an  imposing 
cathedral,  the  houses  were  all  built  of  logs  and 
one  story  in  height,  but  they  were  neat  and  sub- 
stantial, and  were  provided  throughout  with 
double  windows,  which  are  required  by  the  se- 
verity of  the  winter. 

At  that  season  of  the  year  the  country  was  cov- 
ered with  a  luxurious  growth  of  vegetation.  Of 
trees,  so  called,  there  are  only  the  larch  and 
birch,  but  the  whole  country  is  covered  with  a 
dense  growth  of  underbrush,  ten  feet  high,  which 
it  is  impossible  to  penetrate.    Consequently,  very 


48  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

little  traveling  is  done  in  summer,  except  on  the 
rivers  in  small  boats.  Most  of  this  undergrowth 
dies  down  at  the  approach  of  winter,  and  the  snow 
which  then  covers  everything  makes  traveling 
comparatively  easy  in  any  direction. 

As  our  steamer  was  to  make  a  little  side  excur- 
sion of  ten  days  to  different  trading  ports  in  the 
vicinity  and  then  return  to  Petropaulovsk,  I  de- 
termined to  remain  behind  and  explore  the  region 
in  search  of  copper  deposits,  which  had  been  re- 
ported to  exist  in  the  vicinity.  I  secured  a 
stanch  little  skiff  built  in  San  Francisco,  and 
after  stowing  away  my  tent  in  the  bow  I  started 
out  to  prospect  along  the  beach.  For  the  most 
part,  I  walked  while  the  Koreans  rowed  the  boat 
a  little  offshore,  keeping  always  within  hailing- 
distance.  I  carefully  examined  the  mineral  for- 
mations along  the  shore.  About  five  miles  from 
the  town,  I  came  across  numerous  pieces  of  cop- 
per "  float "  (detadhed  fragments  from  the  pa- 
rent ledge) .  Striking  up  the  hill  above  the  point 
where  this  "  float  "  lay,  I  found  the  outcroppings 
of  a  thin  seam  of  bornite,  which  is  a  valuable  cop- 
per ore  if  found  in  quantities.  But  the  thinness 
of  the  seam  was  not  promising ;  so  I  simply  set  up 
a  claim  post,  which  would  hold  it  for  three  years, 
with  a  view  to  further  exploration. 

When  night  closed  in,  which  in  that  northerly 
region  in  summer  does  not  occur  till  nearly  ten 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  49 

o'clock,  we  pitched  our  camp  beside  a  brawling 
mountain  stream,  prepared  our  supper,  and  felt 
sure  of  passing  a  comfortable  right.  But  within 
ten  minutes  we  were  undeceived.  The  mosquitos 
came  dovra  by  the  millions,  and  we  surrendered  at 
discretion,  capitulated  with  the  honors  of  war, 
went  out  with  colors  flying  and  side-arms  on,  so 
to  speak,  and  spent  the  night  in  the  boat,  an- 
chored some  fifty  yards  from  the  shore. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  this 
little  side  excursion,  as  it  did  not  result  in  find- 
ing any  evidences  of  valuable  deposits  of  copper. 
So  at  the  appointed  time  we  found  ourselves  back 
at  Petropaulovsk,  ready  to  resume  our  journey 
toward  the  north.  We  found  the  Swatow  in 
port  and  scheduled  to  sail  the  next  morning. 

The  anchor  came  up  at  dawn,  and  before  night 
we  lay  again  at  anchor  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tigil 
River,  on  the  western  coast  of  the  peninsula.  We 
found  most  of  the  population  of  the  little  village 
of  Tigil  awaiting  our  arrival.  This  village,  com- 
posed of  a  mixed  Russian  and  half-caste  popula- 
tion, lies  about  forty  miles  up  the  river;  but  the 
villagers  had  all  come  down  to  the  coast  to  meet 
the  steamer,  to  fish,  and  to  get  away  from  the 
mosquitos,  which  are  far  worse  inland  than  on  the 
coast.  They  were  all  living  in  little  temporary 
summer  huts. 

The  first  person  I  met  as  I  stepped  ashore  ad- 


50  SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE 

dressed  me  in  good  western  American.  He  was 
Mr.  Fletcher,  a  Russian  subject,  born  in  Kam- 
chatka of  mixed  American  and  Russian  parent- 
age. He  had  been  educated  in  San  Francisco. 
He  invited  me  to  his  little  cottage  and  set  before 
me  a  tempting  meal  of  fresh  milk  and  blueber- 
ries, supplemented  by  raw,  salted  and  smoked 
fish,  vodka,  and  the  contents  of  the  steaming  sam- 
ovar. After  doing  honor  to  these  good  things, 
we  strolled  down  to  the  beach  to  watch  the  Chi- 
nese sailors  from  the  steamer  lay  out  the  little 
stock  of  goods  that  they  are  allowed  to  bring  with 
them  to  barter  with  the  natives.  The  thrifty  Ce- 
lestial spreads  a  piece  of  canvas  on  the  ground, 
and  on  it  arranges  in  the  most  tempting  manner 
his  stock  of  hand-mirrors,  needles,  buttons,  soap 
tablets,  perfumery,  and  other  articles  de  luxe.  A 
bevy  of  native  girls  crowd  about  him,  giggling 
and  chaffing,  while  men  elbow  their  way  in  to  buy 
presents  for  their  sweethearts,  paying  for  them 
in  deerskins,  fur  gloves,  and  smoked  deer  tongue. 
Meanwhile  the  steamer  has  been  busily  dis- 
charging the  quota  of  flour,  tea,  vodka,  and  other 
things  which  are  required  by  the  officials  and  trad- 
ers of  the  station,  and  in  return  loading  the  bales 
of  skins  and  furs  consigned  to  the  Russian  Char- 
tered Company. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SALMON-FISHING  IN  THE  FAR  NORTH 

Tide  that  rises  twenty-five  feet — Wholesale  suicide  of 
salmon — Fish-eyes  as  a  delicacy  for  sea-gulls — How 
the  natives  store  fish  for  the  sledge-dogs — The  three 
varieties  of  salmon — An  Arcadian  land  for  the  birdjs. 

LEAVING  the  mouth  of  the  Tigil  River,  we 
'  steamed  northward  into  the  upper  arm  of 
the  Okhotsk  Sea.  The  shore  line  showed  rolHng 
hill  and  mountain  country  without  much  timber. 
Three  days  of  steady  steaming  brought  us  to  the 
extreme  limits  of  the  Okhotsk  Sea,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Ghijiga  River.  Owing  to  the  shallowness 
of  the  water,  we  were  obliged  to  anchor  eighteen 
miles  off  shore.  We  had  on  board  a  small  steam- 
launch,  for  use  in  towing  the  lighters  to  the  shore, 
each  lighter  carrying  about  twenty-five  tons. 
The  launch  and  lighters  were  soon  put  over  the 
side  and  their  cargoes  loaded  into  them.  At  ten 
o'clock  at  night  we  set  off  toward  the  shore.  It 
was  necessaiy  to  start  at  that  hour  in  order  to  get 
over  the  bar  at  flood-tide.  We  entered  the  mouth 
of  the  river  at  three  in  the  morning.  The  sun  was 
already  up.    The  width  of  the  estuary  was  con- 

51 


52  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

siderable,  but  it  was  enormously  increased  by  the 
tide,  which  rises  twenty-five  feet  and  floods  the 
fields  and  plains  on  either  side.  The  air  was  lit- 
erally full  of  sea-gulls,  flying  very  high.  Some 
of  them  were  going  inland,  and  some  out  to  sea. 
The  odor  of  decaying  fish  was  almost  overpower- 
ing, and  was  plainly  perceptible  five  miles  out. 
This  was  caused  by  the  enormous  number  of  dead 
salmon  that  lay  on  the  bar,  having  been  swept 
down  the  river. 

About  the  tenth  of  June  the  salmon  come  in 
from  the  sea  and  work  their  way  up  the  river  until 
the  lack  of  water  bars  their  further  progress. 
Salmon  do  not  run  up  these  rivers  until  they  have 
attained  their  sixth  year  of  growth.  From  the 
moment  they  enter  the  fresh  water  of  the  river, 
they  get  no  food  whatever.  For  this  reason  they 
must  be  caught  near  the  river's  mouth  to  be  in 
good  condition.  The  female,  having  gone  far  up 
the  river,  finds  a  suitable  place,  and  deposits  her 
eggs;  after  which  the  male  fish  hunts  them  out 
and  fertilizes  them.  As  soon  as  this  has  been  ac- 
complished there  begins  a  mad  rush  for  death. 
However  many  millions  of  salmon  may  run  up 
the  river,  not  one  ever  reaches  the  sea  again  alive. 
They  race  straight  up  the  river,  as  if  bent  on  find- 
ing its  source.  When  the  river  narrows  down  to 
two  hundred  feet  in  width,  and  is  about  a  foot 
deep,  the  fish  are  so  crowded  together  that  the 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  55 

water  fairly  boils  with  them.  And  still  they 
struggle  up  and  ever  up.  One  can  walk  into  the 
water  and  kill  any  number  of  them  with  a  club. 
After  the  fish  have  gone  up  the  river  in  this  fash- 
ion for  fifty  or  sixty  miles,  they  are  so  poor  that 
they  are  worthless  as  food,  for  they  have  been 
working  all  this  time  on  an  empty  stomach.  As 
they  fight  their  way  up,  they  seem  to  grow  wilder 
and  wilder.  Whole  schools  of  them,  each  num- 
bering anywhere  from  a  hundred  to  a  thousand, 
will  make  a  mad  rush  for  the  shore  and  strand 
themselves.  This  is  what  the  gulls  have  been 
waiting  for.  They  swoop  down  in  immense 
flocks  and  feast  upon  the  eyes  of  the  floundering 
fish.  They  will  not  deign  to  touch  any  other 
part.  Bears  also  come  down  the  river  bank  and 
gorge  themselves.  I  have  seen  as  many  as  seven 
in  a  single  day,  huge  black  and  brown  fellows, 
feasting  on  the  fish.  They  eat  only  certain  parts 
of  the  head,  and  will  not  touch  the  body.  They 
wade  into  the  water  and  strike  the  fish  with  their 
paws  and  then  draw  them  out  upon  the  bank. 
Wolves,  foxes,  and  sledge-dogs  also  feast  upon 
the  fish,  and  for  the  only  time  during  the  year 
get  all  they  want. 

As  the  fish  get  further  and  further  away  from 
the  sea,  their  flesh  grows  loose  and  flabby,  the  skin 
sometimes  turning  black  and  sometimes  a  bright 
red.     They  dash  themselves  against  stones,  and 


56  IN   SEARCH   OF  A 

rub  against  the  sharp  rocks,  seemingly  with  the 
desire  to  rub  the  flesh  off  their  bones.  The  eggs 
of  the  salmon  remain  in  the  river  during  the  win- 
ter, and  it  is  not  until  the  following  spring  that 
the  young  fish  are  swept  down  to  the  sea  by  the 
spring  floods. 

Along  the  banks  of  the  river  live  the  half-breed 
Russians  and  the  natives  in  their  miserable  shan- 
ties and  skin  huts.  They  fish  with  long  nets  made 
of  American  twine.  Fastening  one  end  of  the  net 
to  a  stake  on  one  side  of  the  river,  they  carry  the 
other  end  to  the  opposite  side.  In  an  hour  or 
more,  the  farther  end  is  brought  back  with  a  wide 
sweep  down  stream,  which,  of  course,  is  the  direc- 
tion from  which  the  fish  are  coming.  The  two 
ends  are  brought  together,  and  a  team  of  a  dozen 
sledge-dogs  hauls  the  net  to  the  bank.  The  chil- 
dren kill  the  fish  with  clubs.  Then  they  are  car- 
ried to  the  women,  who  squat  upon  the  sand,  and, 
with  three  deft  sweeps  of  a  sharp  knife,  disem- 
bowel them,  and  cut  off  the  thick  pieces  of  flesh 
on  each  side  of  the  backbone.  These  pieces  are 
dried  in  the  sun  and  form  the  chief  article  of  food 
among  this  people.  It  is  called  by  them  yuhulle. 
The  backbone,  the  head,  and  the  tail,  which  re- 
main after  the  meat  is  cut  ofl",  are  then  dried,  and 
they  form  the  staple  food  for  the  sledge-dogs. 

After  they  have  cut  up  enough  fish  for  one 
year's  consumption,  they  make  yet  another  large 


in 


p 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  59 

catch  and  throw  the  whole  lot  into  a  pit  and  cover 
them  with  earth.  If  there  should  be  no  run  of  fish 
the  following  year,  these  pits  could  be  opened  up 
and  the  contents  fed  to  the  dogs,  thus  saving  their 
valuable  lives.  The  natives,  who  live  mainly  on 
fish,  will  not  cure  more  than  enough  for  a  single 
season's  use. 

They  may  lay  up  future  store  for  their  dogs, 
but  not  for  their  children.  When  an  old  fish-pit 
is  opened  up  the  stench  is  terrible,  but  this  does 
not  trouble  the  dogs,  for  they  will  eat  anji;hing 
into  which  they  can  bite.  If  the  natives  were  will- 
ing to  work  fifteen  days  longer,  they  could  easily 
lay  up  enough  food  to  tide  over  any  ordinary 
famine,  but  they  will  not  do  this  unless  forced  to 
it.  Consequently,  the  Russian  Government  com- 
pels one  or  two  from  each  family  to  work  on  cer- 
tain government  nets,  every  fish  caught  being  put 
in  the  "  fish-bank  "  and  a  record  kept  of  the  ex- 
act number  due  each  individual  who  helps  work 
the  nets.  During  several  successive  good  years, 
enough  fish  are  laid  up  to  supply  the  people  at 
least  in  part  during  times  of  scarcity.  If  these 
should  not  suffice,  the  government  would  buy  up 
reindeer  from  natives  in  the  interior  at  fifty  ko- 
peks a  head,  and  feed  them  to  the  destitute  peo- 
ple. Fifty  kopeks  make  twenty-five  cents  in 
United  States  currency,  which  seems  a  small 
price  to  pay  for  a  reindeer,  but  in  the  country  of 


60  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

which  we  are  writing  that  is  a  good  average  price. 
A  failure  of  the  fish  crop  occurs  about  once  in 
seven  years.  For  some  reason  not  yet  ascer- 
tained, the  fish  will  entirely  desert  a  river  for  a 
season.  Not  infrequently  it  is  found  that  of  two 
rivers  whose  mouths  are  not  more  than  a  few 
miles  apart,  the  salmon  will  frequent  one  and  not 
the  other. 

The  Russian  Government  forbids  the  export  of 
salmon  caught  in  the  rivers  or  within  two  miles  of 
their  mouths.  While  the  people  do  not  destroy 
a  thousandth  part  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  fish  that 
run  up  the  river,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  not 
a  single  fish  gets  back  to  the  sea  after  depositing 
its  eggs.  As  the  fish  are  killed  as  near  as  possible 
to  the  river's  mouth,  an  enormous  number  of  eggs 
are  destroyed.  There  is,  therefore,  a  possibility 
of  seriously  diminishing  the  supply  if  a  wholesale 
slaughter  takes  place  when  the  fish  come  in  from 
the  sea.  If  they  were  taken  after  the  eggs  are 
deposited  it  would  be  another  matter;  but  this  is 
never  the  case. 

These  salmon  are  of  three  different  varie- 
ties, called,  respectively,  the  silver  salmon,  the 
*'  hump-backed  "  salmon,  and  the  "  garboosh." 
The  weight  of  a  full-grown  salmon  is  from  eigh- 
teen to  twenty-five  pounds.  There  is  in  the  rivers 
another  fish  called  the  salmon-trout.  It  has  a 
dark-green  back,  with  vivid  pink  spots,  and  it  is 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  61 

a  most  delicious  article  of  food.  The  little  lakes 
in  the  tundra  also  contain  a  fish  somewhat  resem- 
bling the  pickerel,  which  the  natives  catch  in 
traps.  These  are  set  in  the  little  creeks  leading 
from  the  tundra  lakes.  They  are  cylindrical  bas- 
kets, five  feet  long  and  three  feet  wide,  and  are 
set  in  an  opening  in  a  dam  built,  for  the  purpose, 
of  reeds  and  stakes.  Often  as  many  as  a  dozen 
fish  are  taken  from  the  traps  at  a  single  catch. 
At  the  time  when  the  salmon  are  running,  hun- 
dreds of  sea-dogs  (hair-seal)  are  attracted  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river  by  the  smell  of  dead  fish. 
As  we  went  in  from  our  steamer,  they  kept  lift- 
ing their  heads  from  the  water  all  about  us, 
and  afforded  some  good  shooting.  The  natives 
take  them  in  huge  nets  made  of  walrus  thongs 
with  a  mesh  of  six  inches  or  more.  A  good 
haul  may  net  as  many  as  thirty  of  these  big 
fellows,  which  weigh  up  to  four  hundred  pounds 
apiece.  Their  fur  is  of  a  mottled  or  speckled 
color.  They  are  in  high  repute  among  the  na- 
tives, who  use  their  hides  for  boots.  The  women 
are  able  to  sew  them  so  as  to  be  perfectly 
water-tight.  The  blubber  is  a  delicacy  which  is 
eaten  cold.  It  is  also  made  into  oil,  and  in 
a  shallow  dish,  with  a  piece  of  moss  for  a  wick, 
it  forms  the  ordinary  lamp  of  the  native.  The 
sea-gulls,  on  their  way  north  to  breed,  arrive  in 
May,  and  the  air  is  simply  filled  with  them. 


62  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

They  make  their  nests  on  rocky  declivities  or  be- 
side the  rivers,  or  even  on  the  open  tundra.  The 
nesting  and  hatching  of  their  young  comes  at 
such  a  time  that  it  just  matches  the  running  of  the 
salmon,  which  is  very  convenient.  The  young 
mature  very  quickly.  When  newly  hatched  they 
are  gray.  When  they  come  back  the  following 
season  only  their  wings  are  gray,  the  body  being 
white.  The  egg  harvest  is  a  very  important  one 
to  the  natives,  who  preserve  the  eggs  by  burying 
them  in  the  ground  on  the  north  side  of  a  hill 
where  there  is  perpetual  frost.  Besides  the  gulls, 
there  are  countless  ducks,  geese,  and  snipe. 
These  last  often  fly  in  such  dense  flocks  that  the 
boys  stand  and  throw  clubs  among  them,  and 
bring  down  half  a  dozen  at  a  throw.  These 
youngsters  are  also  very  skilful  with  the  sling, 
and  bag  many  ducks  and  geese  with  this  primi- 
tive weapon.  I  have  seen  a  boy  bring  down 
a  single  goose  with  one  of  these  slings,  though  the 
general  rule  is  to  throw  into  a  flock  on  the  chance 
of  hitting  one.  Birds  of  all  kinds  here  find  the 
richest  feeding-grounds  in  the  world.  The  sea 
birds,  in  countless  numbers,  feed  upon  the  salmon, 
while  the  insectivorous  birds  have  only  to  open 
their  mouths  to  have  them  filled.  At  this  season 
the  ground  is  quite  covered  with  berries,  which 
have  been  preserved  all  winter  under  the  snow. 
Among  these  are   cranberries,   blueberries,   and 


SIBERIAN   KLONDIKE  63 

huckleberries.  When  the  birds  arrive  in  the 
spring  they  are  generally  poor,  but  ten  days  suf- 
fice, on  this  rich  fare,  to  make  them  fat.  An 
hour's  stroll  is  enough  to  use  up  all  the  gun-shells 
one  can  conveniently  carry,  and  to  bag  more 
game  than  one  can  bring  home.  The  hunter  has 
only  to  sit  down  in  a  "  goose  lane  "  or  behind  a 
blind  of  some  sort,  and  shoot  birds  right  and  left. 
The  few  merchants  who  reside  in  these  trading 
posts  kill  large  quantities  of  birds  in  the  season, 
and  keep  them  in  cold  storage,  which  can  be  found 
almost  anywhere  a  few  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  ground.  The  natives,  as  a  rule,  are  too 
poor  to  own  shot-guns,  and  so  do  not  profit 
largely  by  this  generous  supply  of  feathered 
game. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  TOWN  OF  GHIJIGA 

The  sacred  icon  and  the  sewing-machine  both  in  evidence 
— The  native  "  process  of  getting  married " — Mrs. 
Braggin's  piano — ^American  pack-saddles  and  Russian 
obstinacy — Theodosia  ChrisofFsky  and  his  sixty  descen- 
dants. 

WHEN  we  reached  the  shore,  or  as  near  the 
shore  as  the  shallowness  of  the  water  would 
permit,  a  crowd  of  natives  and  half-castes  waded 
out  and  offered  their  backs  to  convey  us  to  dry 
ground.  There  we  found  two  Russian  officers  in 
uniform  and  twelve  Cossacks,  besides  a  hundred 
or  more  of  the  villagers.  The  magistrate  and  his 
assistant,  with  the  aid  of  twenty  Cossacks,  govern 
a  section  of  territory  as  large  as  Texas  and  New 
Mexico  combined.  The  magistrate  led  us  to  his 
house,  a  log  structure,  one  story  high,  with  five 
large  rooms.  No  carpets  adorned  the  floor,  which 
was  spotlessly  clean.  On  the  wall  hung  the  pic- 
tures of  the  Czar  and  Czarina,  while  in  the  comer, 
of  course,  hung  the  sacred  icon.  One  noticeable 
feature  was  a  Singer  sewing-machine.    The  mag- 

64 


..    i 


O 


I 


n!- 


0P5 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  67 

istrate's  wife  lives  here  with  him  and  looks  after 
their  modest  family  of  thirteen  children. 

It  was  now  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  but  the 
family  were  astir.  The  samovar  was  brought  in, 
and  over  hot  tea  and  buns  we  speedily  became  ac- 
quainted. The  magistrate  is  an  important  man 
in  Ghijiga,  and  I  found  him  to  be  a  highly  edu- 
cated gentleman,  speaking  French  and  German 
fluently,  but  not  English.  He  examined  my  pa- 
pers, and,  with  the  aid  of  the  supercargo,  who  in- 
terpreted for  me,  I  told  him  the  purpose  of  my 
visit.  He  made  me  entirely  welcome,  and  told  me 
that  he  had  received  orders  from  the  Governor- 
general  in  Vladivostok  to  aid  me  in  every  way 
possible.  And  he  assured  me  he  would  gladly 
do  so. 

My  first  object  was  to  reach  the  town  of  Ghi- 
jiga, which  lay  twenty-five  miles  up  the  river. 
Here  I  intended  to  make  my  headquarters  while 
I  explored  the  country  inland  and  about  the  head 
of  the  Okhotsk  Sea.  The  magistrate  immediately 
gave  orders  that  a  boat  be  gotten  ready  to  take  me 
up  the  river,  and  five  Cossacks  were  detailed  to 
haul  at  the  tow-line. 

After  a  hearty  breakfast  of  salmon,  reindeer 
meat,  and  other  good  things,  we  embarked  and 
started  up-stream.  The  boat  was  probably  the 
worst-shaped  craft  ever  constructed.  It  was 
made  by  hollowing  out  an  eighteen-foot  log. 


68  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

after  which  side  boards  were  attached.  As  it 
drew  fully  twelve  inches  of  water  and  was  very 
cranky,  one  could  scarcely  recommend  it  for  river 
travel.  I  afterward  built  three  boats  which 
would  carry  double  the  weight  of  cargo,  and 
which  drew  only  four  inches. 

We  rowed  up-stream  a  few  miles  in  a  north- 
westerly direction  until  we  reached  the  limit  of 
tide-water,  and  the  stream  suddenly  grew  shal- 
low. The  banks  were  covered  with  a  dense 
growth  of  bushes,  wliich  at  some  places  attained 
a  height  of  twenty  feet,  but  there  was  no  large 
timber  near  at  hand.  With  my  field-glasses  I 
saw  some  fairly  hesivj  timber  on  the  mountain- 
sides inland.  The  general  aspect  of  the  country 
was  exceedingly  rough.  The  banks  of  the  river 
showed  outcroppings  of  slate,  striking  east  and 
west,  with  a  pitch  to  the  south  of  forty-five  de- 
grees. To  the  southwest,  about  ten  miles  away, 
I  saw  a  long,  low  range  of  hills,  perhaps  a  thou- 
sand feet  high.  The  highest  point  in  this  range  is 
called  Babuska,  which  is  the  Russian  for  "  grand- 
mother." 

As  we  approached  the  shallows  the  water  be- 
came so  swift  that  we  could  no  longer  row,  where- 
upon four  of  the  Cossacks  jumped  out  of  the 
boat  into  the  icy  water.  Putting  over  their  shoul- 
ders a  kind  of  harness  made  of  walrus  hide,  to 
which  was  attached  a  rope  of  the  same  material 


SIBERIAN   KLONDIKE  69 

one  hundred  feet  long,  they  began  towing.  The 
fifth  Cossack  held  the  steering-oar.  The  shore 
was  too  heavily  wooded  to  admit  of  using  it  as  a 
tow-path,  and  so  the  poor  fellows  had  to  wade  in 
the  water.  Frequently,  the  boat  would  ground 
on  the  shallows,  and  then  they  would  patiently 
come  back  and  haul  us  over  the  obstruction.  At 
noon  we  landed,  built  a  roaring  fire,  and  imbibed 
unknown  quantities  of  tea  along  with  our  lunch. 
Taking  to  the  water  again,  we  kept  steadily,  if 
slowly,  on  until  seven  o'clock,  when,  suddenly 
turning  a  sharp  bend,  we  saw  on  the  hillside,  on 
the  left  bank,  the  green  spires  of  a  Russian 
church  around  which  were  grouped  about  fifty 
houses.  I  noticed  that  not  a  single  house  had  a 
window  on  the  north  side.  The  severe  winds 
from  the  north  drive  all  the  snow  away  from  that 
side  of  the  houses  and  pile  it  up  against  the  win- 
dows on  the  south  side,  so  that  they  are  often 
buried  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  deep.  Some  of 
the  people  are  too  lazy  to  dig  this  away  and 
so  have  to  remain  in  comparative  darkness; 
but  as  the  days  are  only  a  couple  of  hours 
long  in  mid-winter,  it  does  not  make  so  much 
difference. 

As  we  neared  the  landing  all  the  village,  ex- 
cept such  portion  as  had  met  the  steamer  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  came  down  en  masse  to  greet 
us — dogs,  children,  and  all.     They  gave  us  a 


70  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

hearty  drosty,  or  "  How  do  you  do?  "  and  treated 
us  most  hospitably. 

We  pitched  our  tent  on  a  grassy  slope  near  the 
water  and  made  preparations  for  supper.  As  I 
was  bending  over,  busy  with  my  work,  I  was 
startled  by  a  hearty  slap  on  the  shoulder  and  the 
true  Yankee  intonation,  "  Well,  friend,  what  are 
you  doing  in  this  neck  of  the  woods?  "  I  turned 
quickly  and  saw  before  me  a  stout,  good-natured, 
smiling  American.  I  learned  that  he  was  a  Mr. 
Powers,  manager  of  the  Russian  Trading  Com- 
pany, which  had  a  station  at  this  point.  He  had 
arrived  a  few  days  before  in  the  company's 
steamer,  the  KotiCj  and  had  brought  with  him  a 
Russian- American  as  clerk.  The  latter  was  in 
process  of  being  married  to  the  daughter  of  a 
Mrs.  Braggin,  the  capable  agent  of  the  Russian 
Fur  Company  at  that  point.  I  say  he  was  in 
process  of  being  married ;  for,  although  the  cere- 
mony had  begun  the  day  before,  it  would  be  sev- 
eral days  yet  before  it  would  be  completed.  They 
literally  dragged  me  up  to  the  house,  although 
I  pointed  in  dismay  at  my  disreputable  suit  of 
khaki.  I  was  too  late  for  the  church  service, 
but  was  just  in  time  for  the  more  substantial  part 
of  the  festivities. 

After  the  service  in  the  church  the  villagers 
gather  at  the  bride's  house  and  spend  the  balance 
of  the  day  in  feasting,  amid  the  most  uproarious 


CO 


I— > 


o 


crq 

p 


y 


r. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  73 

mirth.  The  second  day  finishes  this  act  of  the 
play,  but  on  the  third  and  fourth  days  the  bride 
and  groom  make  the  round  of  the  village,  feast- 
ing everywhere.  It  was  on  the  second  day  that 
we  arrived,  and  before  the  day  was  over  the 
groom  had  gorged  himself  about  to  the  limit ;  and 
before  the  next  two  days  had  gone  he  confided  to 
me  the  fact  that  if  he  had  known  how  much  he 
would  be  forced  to  eat,  he  would  have  hesitated 
before  crossing  the  threshold  of  matrimony. 

Mrs.  Braggin's  drawing-room  boasted  an  an- 
tiquated upright  piano,  that  had  long  passed  its 
prime,  but  was  in  fairly  good  tune  for  such  a 
corner  of  the  world.  In  the  course  of  the  even- 
ing, as  the  fun  was  growing  fast  and  furious,  and 
there  seemed  to  be  no  one  to  play  the  instrument, 
I  sat  down  and  struck  up  the  "Washington  Post" 
march ;  but  before  I  had  played  many  bars,  I  was 
dismayed  fo  find  that  the  merriment  had  sud- 
denly ceased  and  the  whole  company  were  stand- 
ing in  perfect  silence,  as  if  rooted  to  the  spot. 
When  I  finished  nothing  would  suffice  but  that 
I  should  exhaust  my  slender  repertory,  and  then 
repeat  it  all  again  and  again.  Evidently,  many 
of  those  rough  but  kindly  people  had  never  heard 
anything  like  it  in  their  lives,  and,  as  the  Russian 
is  musical  to  his  heart's  core,  I  felt  pleased  to  have 
added  my  mite  to  the  evening's  entertainment. 

After  the  four  days  of  feasting,  we  descended 


74  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

to  the  plane  of  the  ordinary.  By  the  aid  of  Mr. 
Powers  I  secured  a  vacant  log  hut,  where  I  be- 
stowed my  various  goods  and  appointed  old  An- 
drew as  steward,  making  arrangements  for  him 
to  board  at  Mrs.  Braggin's.  Some  of  the  native 
women  were  easily  induced  to  fit  me  out  with  a 
suit  of  buckskin  which  I  should  require  in  travel- 
ing about  the  country.  In  this  whole  district 
there  were  but  twelve  horses.  They  were  Irkutsk 
ponies,  shaggy  fellows,  about  fourteen  hands 
high.  They  were  very  hardy  animals,  and  could 
shift  for  themselves  both  summer  and  winter.  In 
the  winter  they  paw  down  through  the  snow  until 
they  reach  the  dead  grass. 

After  nearly  exhausting  my  powers  of  persua- 
sion, and  paying  a  round  simi,  I  secured  six 
of  these  horses.  I  hired  a  competent  Russian 
guide  and  prepared  to  take  my  first  trip  across 
the  tundra,  to  examine  a  locality  where  the  Rus- 
sians had  reported  that  gold  had  been  discovered 
a  few  years  before.  With  my  horses  came  little 
Russian  pack-saddles  or  rather  combinations  of 
pack-  and  riding-saddles.  They  have  the  faculty 
of  turning  with  their  loads  about  once  an  hour  all 
day  long.  This  I  had  discovered  at  Petropaul- 
ovsk,  but  when  I  expressed  my  determination  to 
use  my  American  pack-saddles,  I  found  myself 
confronted  by  the  opposition  of  Russians  and 
natives   alike.      They   viewed   my   saddles   with 


c 


P 

o 
o 
o 


CI. 


< 


&- 


P 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  77 

amusement  and  contempt.  The  double  cinches 
and  the  breast  and  back  cinches  puzzled  them 
completely,  and  they  refused  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  them.  As  fast  as  my  Koreans  would  get 
the  packs  on,  the  Russians  would  take  them  off 
when  our  backs  were  turned.  I  soon  discovered 
that  the  Russians  were  determined  to  use  their 
own  saddles,  and  no  argument  would  move  them. 
I  unbuckled  a  Russian  saddle  and  threw  it  to  the 
ground,  substituting  one  of  my  own  for  it.  I 
turned  to  a  second  horse  to  do  likewise,  when, 
looking  over  my  shoulder,  I  saw  a  Russian  qui- 
etly unfastening  the  first.  Stepping  up  to  him, 
I  gave  him  a  slap  with  the  open  hand  on  the  jaw. 
Instantly,  the  whole  matter  assumed  a  new  as- 
pect. I  was  not  to  be  trifled  with.  They  saw  it. 
Their  objections  were  at  once  withdrawn,  and 
never  after  that  did  I  have  occasion  to  strike  a 
man. 

My  guide  was  an  old  man  of  sixty-five,  but  a 
noted  sledge-driver  and  hunter.  His  name  was 
Theodosia  Chrisoffsky,  a  half-caste.  He  was  a 
dried-up  and  wizened  old  man,  but  I  found  him 
as  active  as  a  youth  of  twenty.  He  was  always 
the  first  up  in  the  morning,  and  the  last  to  bed  at 
night.  He  owned  the  best  dogs  in  northeastern 
Siberia,  and  could  get  more  work  out  of  a  dog- 
team  than  any  other  man.  His  reputation 
reached   from  the   Okhotsk   Sea   to  the   Arctic 


78  SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE 

Ocean,  and  he  was  considered  among  the  dog-men 
to  be  about  the  wealthiest  of  his  class.  He  owned 
a  hundred  dogs,  valued  at  from  three  to  one  hun- 
dred roubles  each.  Perhaps  ten  of  them  were 
worth  the  maximum  price,  and  the  rest  averaged 
about  ten  roubles  apiece.  He  also  owned  five 
horses.  Not  the  least  part  of  his  wealth  were 
twelve  strapping  sons  and  daughters,  all  of 
whom,  with  their  wives  and  husbands,  lived  under 
the  paternal  roof — or,  rather,  under  a  climip  of 
paternal  roofs.  There  were  some  sixty  souls  in 
all,  and  they  formed  a  little  village  by  themselves 
about  twenty  miles  up  the  river  from  Ghijiga. 

I  had  to  load  the  horses  very  light  on  account 
of  the  marshy  condition  of  the  tundra.  Each 
pack  was  a  hundred  pounds  only.  On  this  trip  I 
took  only  one  of  my  Koreans. 


CHAPTER  VI 

OFF  FOR  THE  TUNDRA — A  NATIVE  FAMILY 

Hard  traveling — The  native  women — A  mongrel  race — 
ChrisofFsky's  home  and  family  and  their  ideas  of  domestic 
economy — Boiled  fish-eyes  a  native  delicacy — Prospecting 
along  the  Ghij  iga. 

WE  set  out  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  sixth  of 
September.  Fortunately  for  us,  the  sharp 
frosts  had  already  killed  off  all  the  mosquitos. 
The  path  through  the  tundra  was  very  difficult* 
We  stepped  from  tuft  to  tuft  of  moss,  between 
which  were  deep  mud  and  slush.  When  we  could 
keep  in  the  river-bed,  where  it  was  dry,  we  had 
tolerably  good  going ;  so  we  kept  as  near  the  river 
as  possible.  Often  I  would  have  to  mount  the 
back  of  my  faithful  Kim  to  cross  some  tributary 
of  the  main  stream.  We  were  continually  wet  to 
the  knee  or  higher,  and  were  tired,  muddy,  and 
bedraggled  beyond  belief. 

Toward  night,  we  saw  the  welcome  smoke 
from  the  village  of  the  Chrisoff skys.  A  crowd 
of  small  urchins  came  running  out  to  greet  their 
grandfather,  and  soon  we  were  in  the  midst  of 
the  village.    The  old  gentleman,  my  guide,  took 

79 


.-•/O' 


80  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

my  hand  and  led  me  into  his  house,  where,  after 
I  had  kissed  every  one  (drawing  the  line  at  the 
men),  one  of  the  daughters  sat  down  on  the 
floor,  unlaced  my  boots,  took  off  my  wet  socks, 
and  replaced  them  by  soft,  fur-lined  deerskin 
boots.  She  then  looked  my  boots  over  very  care- 
fully, and  finding  a  little  seam  ripped,  she  got 
out  a  deer-sinew  and  sewed  it  up.  All  my  men 
were  similarly  attended  to.  The  boots  were  then 
hung  up  to  dry.  In  the  morning,  they  would 
have  to  be  oiled.  This  attention  to  the  foot-gear 
is  an  essential  part  of  the  etiquette  of  this  people. 
Any  stitch  that  is  to  be  taken  must  be  attended  to 
before  the  boot  is  dry  and  stiff.  Even  here  the 
^amc^var  reigned  supreme.  The  women  were 
strong,  buxom  creatures,  and  they  wore  loose 
calico  gowns  of  gaudy  colors.  The  hair,  which  is 
never  luxuriant  in  the  women  of  the  North,  was 
put  up  in  two  slender  braids  crossed  at  the  back 
and  brought  around  to  the  front  of  the  head  and 
tied  up.  Their  complexions  were  very  dark,  al- 
most like  that  of  a  North  American  Indian. 
Most  of  them  had  very  fine  teeth. 

These  people  are  of  a  mongrel  race,  having  a 
mixture  of  Korak,  Tunguse,  and  Russian  blood. 
ChrisofFsky  himself  was  one  fourth  Russian. 
They  speak  a  dialect  that  is  as  mixed  as  their 
blood;  for  it  is  a  conglomerate  of  Korak,  Tun- 
guse and  Russian.     They  are  very  prolific,  six 


o 


o 
&. 

o 

p' 

o 

cr 

to 

o 
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n 

Cfi' 
rt- 
O 

1 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  83 

and  eight  children  being  considered  a  small 
family.  The  death-rate  among  them  is  very  high, 
and,  as  might  be  expected,  pulmonary  diseases 
are  responsible  for  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
deaths. 

This  house  into  which  I  had  come  as  guest  con- 
sisted of  a  kitchen,  a  small  living-room,  and  a  tiny 
bedroom.  The  old  gentleman's  wife  was  fifty- 
five  years  old,  and  was  still  nursing  her  fifteenth 
child,  which,  at  night,  was  swung  from  the  ceil- 
ing, while  the  father  and  mother  occupied  a  nar- 
row bed.  Three  of  the  smaller  children  slept  on 
the  floor  beneath  the  bed.  The  room  was  eight 
feet  long  and  six  feet  wide.  The  fireplace  in  the 
living-room  was  a  huge  stone  oven,  which  pro- 
jected through  the  partition  into  the  bedroom. 
Every  evening  its  capacious  maw  was  filled  with 
logs,  and  this  insured  heat  in  the  heavy  stone 
body  of  the  stove  for  at  least  twenty-four  hours. 
In  the  mouth  of  this  oven  the  kettles  were  hung. 
This  house  was  far  above  the  average;  for,  in 
truth,  there  were  only  twelve  others  as  good  in  the 
whole  immense  district. 

For  dinner,  the  first  course  was  a  startling  one. 
It  consisted  of  a  huge  bowl  of  boiled  fish-eyes. 
This  is  considered  a  great  dehcacy  by  the  natives 
of  the  far  North.  When  the  dish  was  set  before 
me,  and  I  saw  a  hundred  eyes  glaring  at  me  from 
all  directions  and  at  all  angles,  cross,  squint,  and 


84  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

wall,  it  simply  took  my  appetite  away.  I  had  to 
turn  them  down,  so  that  the  pupil  was  not  visible, 
before  I  could  attack  them.  The  old  gentleman 
and  I  ate  alone,  the  rest  of  the  family  not  being 
allowed  to  sit  down  with  us.  This  was  eminently 
satisfactory  to  me,  as  we  ate  from  the  same  dish ; 
in  fact,  I  could  have  dispensed  with  my  host  too. 
The  second  dish  consisted  of  fish-heads.  I  found 
on  these  a  sort  of  gelatin  or  cartilage  that  was 
very  good  eating.  Then  came  a  kind  of  cake, 
fried  in  seal-oil,  of  which  the  less  said  the  better. 
For  dessert,  we  had  a  dish  of  yagada,  which  is 
much  like  our  raspberry,  except  that  it  is  yellow 
and  rather  acid. 

The  rest  of  the  family,  together  with  my  men, 
squatted  on  the  floor  of  the  kitchen,  and  ate  from 
tables  a  foot  high  by  three  feet  square.  In  the 
center  of  each  table  was  set  a  large  bowl  of  a  kind 
of  fish-chowder.  Each  person  wielded  a  spoon 
made  from  the  horn  of  the  mountain  sheep,  and 
held  in  the  left  hand  a  piece  of  black  bread. 
After  dinner  they  all  had  tea.  No  sugar  is  put 
in  the  tea,  but  a  small  lump  is  given  to  each  per- 
son, and  he  nibbles  it  as  he  sips  his  tea.  It  is  the 
height  of  impoliteness  to  ask  for  a  second  piece 
of  sugar.  Many  of  these  people  drink  as  many  as 
sixty  cups  of  tea  in  a  single  day.  They  seldom, 
if  ever,  drink  water. 

We  sat  and  talked  a  couple  of  hours  over  the 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  85 

samovar,  and  then  the  blankets  were  spread  for 
the  night.  The  large  room  was  reserved  for  me. 
Three  huge  bearskins  were  first  placed  on  the 
floor,  and  then  my  blankets  were  spread  over 
them.  It  made  a  luxurious  bed,  and  quite  free 
from  vermin;  for  a  bedbug  will  never  approach 
a  bearskin.  In  the  kitchen,  I  fear,  they  were 
packed  like  sardines.  They  slept  on  deerskins 
or  bearskins,  anything  that  came  handy  being 
used  for  a  covering.  Curiously  enough,  these 
people  all  prefer  to  sleep  on  a  steep  incline,  and 
to  secure  this  position  they  use  heavy  pillows  or 
bolsters.  Before  retiring,  each  person  came  into 
my  room  and  bowed  and  crossed  himself  before 
the  icon  in  the  corner.  I  had  to  shake  hands  with 
them  all,  and  kiss  the  children,  which  operation  I 
generally  performed  on  the  forehead,  as  hand- 
kerchiefs are  unknown  luxuries  in  that  country. 
The  next  morning,  while  partaking  of  a  sort 
of  French  breakfast  of  bread,  tea,  and  sugar,  I 
noticed  that  my  party  were  the  only  ones  that 
made  use  of  a  comb  and  brush.  When  I  stepped 
outside  the  door  to  clean  my  teeth,  I  was  sur- 
rounded by  twenty  or  more,  who  had  come  to  wit- 
ness this  strange  operation.  They  were  brim- 
ming over  with  laughter.  The  tooth-brush  was 
passed  around  from  hand  to  hand,  and  I  had  to 
keep  a  sharp  lookout,  lest  some  of  them  tried  it 
themselves. 


86  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

Finally,  I  lined  them  all  up  to  take  their  pho- 
tograph. I  placed  my  camera  on  the  ground,  and 
turned  to  direct  them  how  to  stand.  I  had  no 
need  to  ask  them  to  look  pleasant,  for  they  were 
all  on  a  broad  grin.  I  was  at  a  loss  to  account 
for  their  mirth  till  I  turned  and  saw  that  the  vil- 
lage dogs  were  treating  my  camera  in  a  charac- 
teristically canine  fashion.  Then  it  was  I  who 
needed  to  be  told  to  look  pleasant. 

At  last  we  were  on  the  road  again.  For  the 
first  five  miles  our  way  led  up  the  bed  of  the  river, 
sometimes  in  the  water,  and  sometimes  on  the 
bank  in  grass  as  high  as  the  horses'  shoulders. 
When,  at  last,  we  came  out  on  to  the  tundra,  to 
the  north,  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away,  I 
could  see  the  tops  of  the  mountains  among  which 
the  Ghijiga  River  has  its  source.  They  are  about 
ten  thousand  feet  high.  To  the  northeast,  about 
sixty  miles  away,  I  could  see  the  foothills  of  a 
range  of  mountains  in  which  rises  the  Avecko 
River,  which  enters  the  Okhotsk  Sea  within  a  mile 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Ghijiga.  Reaching  the  sum- 
mit of  the  water-shed  between  the  two  rivers,  I 
discovered  that  between  me  and  these  foothills  the 
land  was  low  and  abounded  in  tundra  lakes.  To 
avoid  these,  I  bore  to  the  left  and  kept  on  the 
summit  of  the  water-shed.  By  noon  we  had  cov- 
ered only  eight  miles.  We  halted  for  dinner,  un- 
packed the  horses,  and  turned  them  out  to  feed 


rt- 


o 


p  9 

p  v« 

I—*  c 

I  B 

J?  ^ 
o 

c 


Q   H 


o 
o 

CD 

o 


o 

en 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  89 

upon  the  rich  grass  while  we  made  our  dinner  of 
fish,  bread,  and  other  viands  which  we  had 
brought  ready  prepared  from  the  house.  At 
eight  that  night  we  camped  on  a  "  tundra  island," 
a  slight  rise  in  the  general  flatness  on  which  grew 
a  few  tamarack  trees.  As  the  nights  were  now 
very  cold,  we  built  a  roaring  fire.  My  koklanka, 
or  great  fur  coat,  with  its  hood,  now  proved  its 
utility.  After  supper,  which  consisted  of  several 
brace  of  fat  ptarmigan,  brought  down  that  after- 
noon with  my  shotgun,  each  man  took  his  deer- 
skin and  spread  it  on  a  pile  of  elastic  tamarack 
boughs.  With  our  feet  shod  in  dry  fur  boots, 
with  our  koklankas  about  us  and  great  pillows 
under  our  heads,  we  slept  as  soundly  and  as  com- 
fortably as  one  could  desire. 

In  the  morning  we  found  ourselves  covered 
with  white  frost.  The  start  was  very  difficult,  for 
an  all-day  tramp  in  the  bog  the  day  before  had 
made  our  joints  stiff".  For  the  first  half  hour, 
walking  was  so  painful  that  I  found  myself  fre- 
quently counting  the  steps  between  objects  along 
the  way.  But  after  a  time  the  stiff'ness  wore  off", 
and  I  began  to  find  the  pace  of  the  horses  too 
slow.  When  at  last  we  came  to  higher  gromid 
and  better  going,  I  examined  the  streams  for 
gold.  The  pan  showed  several  "  small  colors," 
for  we  were  in  a  granite  country,  but  as  yet  there 
were  no  signs  of  any  gold-bearing  float  rock. 


90  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

On  the  thirteenth  day  we  arrived  at  our  desti- 
nation which  was  a  certain  creek  indicated  by  a 
Russian  engineer  named  Bugdanovitch.  I  Hked 
the  looks  of  the  country  very  much.  The  creeks 
were  filled  with  quartz  float.  So  I  determined  to 
stop  here  two  or  three  weeks  and  explore  the  ad- 
jacent hills  and  creeks  for  gold.  At  this  point  my 
guide's  contract  expired  and  I  reluctantly  let  him 
go,  as  well  as  five  of  the  six  horses.  I  was  thus 
left  in  the  wilderness  with  Kim  and  Alek. 

I  pitched  camp  in  a  favorable  place  and  went 
to  work  in  good  spirits.  I  thoroughly  prospected 
the  hills  and  ravines  and  made  repeated  trials  of 
the  creek  beds,  but  though  I  found  more  or  less 
show  of  gold,  I  was  at  last  obliged  to  confess  that 
there  was  nothing  worth  working. 

This  being  the  case,  it  behooved  me  to  be  on 
my  way  back  to  headquarters  at  Ghijiga.  I 
thought  there  could  be  no  difficulty  about  it,  as 
the  water  all  flowed  in  one  direction.  I  did  not 
want  to  go  back  bj^  the  way  we  had  come.  I  sus- 
pected that  there  was  a  shorter  way,  and  that  the 
guide  had  purposely  brought  me  a  longer  dis- 
tance in  order  to  secure  more  pay.  So  I  decided 
to  make  a  "  bee  line  "  for  Ghijiga.  Already  we 
had  had  a  slight  flurry  of  snow,  which  had  made 
me  a  trifle  uneasy.  We  had  only  thirty  days'  pro- 
visions with  us,  and  it  would  not  do  to  be  snowed 
in.    As  we  had  only  one  horse,  we  could  not,  of 


SIBERIAN   KLONDIKE  91 

course,  take  back  with  us  all  our  camp  equipage, 
so  I  left  Alek  at  the  camp  and  started  out  for 
Ghijiga  with  Kim  and  our  one  horse,  intending 
to  send  back  dog-sledges  for  the  things.  A  more 
timid  man  than  Alek  would  have  hesitated  before 
consenting  to  be  left  behind  in  this  fashion,  but 
he  bore  up  bravely  and  in  good  cheer  sent  us  off. 


CHAPTER  VII 

TUNGUSE   AND   KORAK   HOSPITALITY. 

My  Korak  host — "Bear!" — I  shoot  my  first  arctic  fox — 
My  Tunguse  guide — Twenty-two  persons  sleep  in  a 
twelve-foot  tent — Tunguse  family  prayers — The  advent 
of  Howka — ChrisofFsky  once  more. 

I  STRUCK  what  I  thought  to  be  a  straight 
course  toward  our  destination.  The  going  was 
much  better  than  it  had  been  a  few  weeks  before, 
because  of  the  hard  frost  which  held  everything 
sohd  till  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Then  the 
sun  would  melt  the  ice  and  make  it  very  hard  to 
travel;  for  the  broken  ice  would  cut  our  boots, 
which  meant  wet  feet  for  the  rest  of  the  day. 

On  the  second  day  we  struck  a  small  water- 
course and  saw  many  signs  of  reindeer.  Soon  we 
found  a  tiny  trail,  and,  following  it  down  the  val- 
ley, I  turned  around  a  bend  in  the  creek,  and  saw 
before  me  six  large  deerskin  tents,  while  on  the 
surrounding  hillsides  were  hundreds  of  reindeer. 
As  we  neared  the  village  a  dozen  curs  came  rush- 
ing out;  some  of  them  were  hobbled  so  as  to 
prevent  their  chasing  the  deer.  They  attacked  us 
savagely,  as  is  the  custom  of  these  ugly  Httle  mon- 

92 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  95 

grels.  We  had  to  make  a  counter  attack  with 
stones  to  keep  them  off.  The  noise  aroused  the 
natives,  who  hurried  out  and  received  us  with  the 
hospitable  "  drosty." 

These  people  were  pure  Koraks/  a  little  under 
the  medium  size,  in  which  they  resemble  the  Japa- 
nese. I  was  led  into  the  largest  of  the  tents,  and 
a  wooden  bowl  containing  boiled  reindeer  meat 
was  placed  before  me.  To  the  delight  of  my 
host,  I  went  to  my  pack  and  produced  some  tea. 
I  also  displayed  some  sugar  and  black  bread, 
which  firmly  established  me  in  their  good  graces. 
I  was  greatly  surprised  to  see  my  host  bring  out 
a  box,  from  which  he  produced  half  a  dozen  china 
cups,  heavily  ornamented  with  gilt,  and  bearing 
such  legends  as  "  God  Bless  Our  Home,"  "  To 
Father,"  and  "Mei-ry  Christmas."  He  must  have 
secured  them  from  an  American  whaling  vessel 
on  one  of  his  annual  trips  to  the  coast.  So,  in  the 
midst  of  this  wilderness,  I  drank  my  tea  from  a 
fine  mustache  cup,  originally  designed  to  make 
the  recipient  "  Remember  Me."  These  cups  were 
the  heirloom  of  the  family,  and  were  brought  out 
only  on  state  occasions. 

When  tea  was  finished  I  produced  some  to- 
bacco and  filled  my  pipe  and  that  of  my  host, 
much  to  his  gratification.     The  sequel  was  em- 

^  Sometimes  spelled  Koriaks  or  Koryakes.     Korak  is  given  the 
preference  as  being  more  accurately  the  phonetic  spelling. 


96  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

barrassing;  for  when  our  pipes  were  smoked  out 
he  msisted  on  filling  them  again  with  his  own  to- 
bacco. This  was  rough  on  me,  but  I  set  my  teeth 
on  the  pipe-stem  and  bravely  went  through  with 
it  to  the  end.  I  can  say  nothing  worse  of  it  than 
that  it  was  as  bad  as  a  cheap  American  cigarette. 

My  host  was  a  genial  old  fellow,  and  later  on 
he  became  my  bosom  friend.  He  was  the  wealth- 
iest man  in  his  district,  and  owned  upward  of  ten 
thousand  reindeer.  Of  course  I  had  great  diffi- 
culty in  talldng  to  him,  but  by  a  liberal  use  of 
signs,  I  made  him  understand  where  I  had  come 
from,  and  that  I  would  like  to  have  him  kill  some 
reindeer  and  carry  them  back  to  the  camp  where 
I  had  left  Alek,  and,  if  possible,  bring  him  to 
this  village.  I  made  a  rough  sketch  of  the  posi- 
tion of  the  camp,  and  he  understood  perfectly,  as 
shown  by  the  fact  that  he  carried  out  my  instruc- 
tions to  the  letter  on  the  next  day.  I  asked  him 
the  way  to  Ghijiga  and  pointed  in  the  direction 
that  I  had  supposed  it  lay.  This  was  approxi- 
mately correct,  but  he  promised  to  give  me  a 
guide  to  take  me  to  town. 

That  evening  there  was  another  surprise  in  store 
for  me.  They  served  for  supper  the  boiled  flesh 
of  unborn  reindeer.  It  is  accounted  a  specially 
choice  viand  among  the  Koraks.  This  seemed 
worse  than  smoking  the  old  man's  tobacco,  but  I 
laid  aside  all  squeamishness  and  found  that,  after 


SIBERIAN   KLONDIKE  97 

all,  it  was  a  palatable  dish.  My  bed  that  night 
was  a  pile  of  skins,  a  foot  deep,  in  a  corner  of  the 
tent. 

The  next  morning  we  set  out  with  our  guide, 
a  mere  boy  dressed  in  a  close-fitting  suit  of  brown 
buckskin.  He  carried  in  his  hand  an  ugly  looking 
bear  spear  with  a  blade  a  foot  long  and  sharpened 
on  both  edges.  It  was  artistically  inlaid  with 
copper  scroll-work  and  was  a  fine  example  of 
genuine  Korak  art.  The  shaft  was  a  good  eight 
feet  long.  All  day  we  pushed  ahead  without  ad- 
venture or  misadventure  until  about  seven  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  when,  as  we  were  passing  down  a 
gentle  incline  through  thick  bushes,  with  the 
Korak  guide  in  the  lead  and  I  behind,  my  notice 
was  attracted  by  a  mound  of  fresh  earth  a  few 
steps  from  the  path.  I  went  to  investigate,  and 
was  greeted  by  a  terrific  roar.  I  brought  my  gun 
to  position  and  cocked  both  barrels,  but  could  see 
nothing  beyond  a  tremendous  shaking  of  the 
bushes.  Looking  around,  I  saw  the  little  guide 
with  his  eyes  blazing  and  his  spear  in  readiness 
for  an  attack.  He  exclaimed  "  Medvait!  "  whicli 
in  Russian  means  "  bear."  As  my  gun  was 
loaded  only  with  bird  shot,  I  decided  that  discre- 
tion  was  the  better  part  of  valor,  and  slowlj'^ 
backed  out  of  the  dense  undergrowth.  When  I 
reached  the  open,  whatever  remnant  of  hunting 
instinct  a  hard  day's  tramp  had  left  in  me  asserted 


98  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

itself.  Hastily  reloading  my  gun  with  shells 
loaded  with  buckshot,  I  circled  around  the  bushes 
to  get  a  shot  at  the  fellow.  I  saw  where  the 
bushes  were  being  beaten  down  by  his  hasty  re- 
treat, but  could  not  catch  sight  of  the  brute.  I 
sent  a  charge  of  buckshot  after  him  as  an  induce- 
ment to  come  out  and  show  himself,  but  the  argu- 
ment worked  just  the  other  way,  and  he  made  oiF 
at  his  best  speed.  The  strangest  thing  about  the 
whole  affair  was  that  we  had  passed  within  ten 
feet  of  the  animal  without  the  horse  showing  any 
signs  of  uneasiness.  Nothing  will  so  frighten  a 
horse  as  the  smell  of  a  bear.  But  I  learned  after- 
ward that  this  particular  horse  was  afraid  of  no- 
thing. I  had  named  him  "  Bill,"  and  we  had 
many  a  hard  day  together. 

Night  was  now  upon  us,  and  so  we  made  our 
camp  in  some  dry  grass  beside  a  brook.  The 
guide  slept  on  a  single  deerskin,  with  no  covering 
but  the  clothes  he  wore.  In  the  morning  I  as- 
cended a  little  knoll,  and  with  my  glasses  could 
see  a  mountain  near  the  town  of  Ghijiga,  so  the 
guide  left  me,  and  went  back.  That  afternoon 
I  killed  my  first  arctic  fox.  The  little  fellow, 
about  as  large  as  a  coyote,  came  running  toward 
us.  We  stopped  short,  and  the  inquisitive  animal 
approached  to  within  a  hundred  feet  and  paused 
to  inspect  us.  I  killed  him  with  a  ball  through 
the  chest. 


tx) 


SIBERIAN   KLONDIKE  101 

That  night  as  Kim  and  I  sat  beside  a  roaring 
fire  of  birch  logs  a  little  animal  leaped  suddenly 
into  the  firelight  opposite.  It  was  a  young  arctic 
fox,  the  prettiest  sight  I  have  ever  seen.  He 
would  jump  to  one  side  and  then  the  other,  and 
crouch,  and  strike  attitudes  like  a  kitten  at  play. 
Then  he  would  lift  his  nose  in  the  air  and  sniff  this 
way  and  that,  raising  one  of  his  paws  meanwliile. 
The  thought  of  killing  the  little  thing  would  never 
have  entered  my  head  if  Kim,  the  matter-of-fact, 
had  not  whispered,  "  Strelite,"  which  means 
"  shoot."  Instinctively  my  hand  crept  toward 
my  gun,  but  the  little  fox  saw  the  movement 
and  was  gone  like  a  flash.  I  was  heartily  glad 
of  it,  too. 

In  this  district  are  to  be  found  almost  all  the 
different  varieties  of  foxes — the  red,  fiery,  blue, 
chestnut,  black,  and  white.  But  it  should  be  re- 
membered that,  with  tlie  exception  of  the  white 
and  red,  these  are  not  exactly  different  species. 
For  instance,  a  black  fox  may  be  found  in  a  litter 
of  the  common  red  fox  in  any  country.  He  is 
simply  a  freak  of  nature,  just  as  one  might  find 
a  black  kitten  among  a  litter  of  gray  ones.  The 
foxes  are  caught  by  poison  or  traps.  There  are 
two  kinds  of  traps,  one  of  which  seizes  tlie  ani- 
mal by  a  leg  or  around  the  neck,  and  the  otlier  is 
made  with  a  bow  and  arrow  so  set  that  as  tlie  fox 
goes  along  the  path  the  slightest  touch  of  the  foot 


102  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

will  discharge  the  arrow.  Formerly  these  animals 
were  so  common  that  when  the  dogs  were  fed  the 
foxes  would  come  and  try  to  steal  part  of  the 
food,  and  had  to  be  driven  away  with  clubs.  At 
that  time  the  natives  valued  their  pelts  hardly 
more  than  dogskins,  but  as  the  foreign  demand 
increased  the  foxes  became  worth  catching. 

We  had  four  days  of  hard  work  traveling 
across  the  tundra,  which  was  frozen  hard  in  the 
morning,  but  was  soft  in  the  afternoon.  Many 
times  a  day  we  were  up  to  the  waist  in  the  mud 
and  water,  working  to  get  Bill  out  of  the  mire. 
On  the  fourth  day,  just  as  night  fell,  we  struck 
the  trail  between  Ghijiga  and  old  Chrisoff sky's 
little  hamlet.  I  did  not  know  just  how  far  we 
were  from  the  village,  and  as  we  were  tired  out  we 
camped  for  the  night.  In  the  morning,  what  was 
our  chagrin  to  find  that  we  were  within  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  of  Ghijiga.  Bill  doubtless  knew,  and 
if  he  could  have  talked  he  would  have  saved  us 
one  night  in  the  open. 

The  days  now  grew  rapidly  colder,  with  flurries 
of  snow  that  heralded  the  coming  of  winter.  As 
it  was  now  possible  to  use  dog-sleds,  I  engaged 
some  of  the  natives  to  go  to  the  Korak  village 
and  bring  down  my  camping  outfit,  which  I 
thought  must  long  since  have  arrived  at  that 
place.  At  this  season  the  dogs  could  travel  only 
at  night,  when  the  ground  was  hard,  but  even  so 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  103 

they  covered  between  thirty  and  forty  miles  a  day 
without  difficulty. 

Meanwhile  I  loaded  up  Bill  with  all  he  could 
carry,  and,  in  company  with  Kim,  started  out  to 
find  the  head  waters  of  the  Tuinimcha  River, 
where  gold  was  reported  to  have  been  discovered. 
This  trail  led  west  from  Ghijiga,  but  it  was 
first  necessary  to  go  up  the  valley  of  the  Ghijiga 
a  short  distance  before  crossing  over  into  the  other 
valley.  I  had,  therefore,  to  pass  Chrisoffsky's 
place  again.  We  arrived  there  the  first  evening 
and  received  a  hearty  welcome.  I  tried  to  get  the 
old  gentleman  to  go  with  me  and  to  furnish  horses 
and  dogs,  but  he  could  do  neither.  His  dogs  were 
engaged  by  the  trading  company  on  the  coast, 
and  his  horses  were  in  too  poor  a  condition  to  un- 
dertake the  journey  which  I  contemplated.  So 
I  was  reduced  to  the  melancholy  necessity  of 
walking,  Bill  carrying  our  camp  outfit. 

As  I  was  about  to  start,  a  native  Tunguse  ar- 
rived at  Chrisoffsky's.  He  was  the  first  of  that 
tribe  that  I  had  seen.  ChrisofFsky  told  me  that 
this  young  man  was  going  the  same  road  as  I,  and 
that  his  yourta,  or  hut,  was  near  the  stream  along 
which  I  intended  to  prospect.  He  willingly 
agreed  to  act  as  my  guide  at  a  wage  of  one  brick 
of  tea  a  day.  He  answered  to  the  euphonious 
name  of  Fronyo.  He  was  five  feet  high  and 
weighed  only  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds,  but 


104  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

was  prodigiously  strong  and  wiry.  He  was 
dressed  in  old  tanned  buckskin,  with  a  gaudy 
apron  trimmed  with  beads  in  geometric  patterns 
and  with  a  fringe.  According  to  the  custom  of 
his  tribe,  he  wore  a  long,  ugly  knife  strapped  to 
his  thigh,  the  point  reaching  to  the  knee,  while 
the  handle  lay  at  the  hip.  These  knives  are  fash- 
ioned by  the  Koraks,  who  sell  them  to  the  Tun- 
guses.  On  his  feet  were  moccasins  with  seal-hide 
soles. 

I  found  that  he  could  speak  a  little  broken  Rus- 
sian, and  as  I  had  acquired  a  few  Russian  ex- 
pressions we  got  along  famously.  So  we  set  out, 
Fronyo  leading  off  with  his  long  bear  spear  but 
no  fire-arms.  It  was  a  straight  three  days'  trip 
across  the  tundra,  and  without  special  incident. 
At  night  we  arrived  in  good  season  at  a  skin 
yourta  on  the  banks  of  a  tributary  of  the  Ghijiga. 
On  our  approach  a  dozen  dogs  rushed  out  with 
the  full  intention  of  tearing  vis  to  pieces,  but 
changed  their  minds  when  they  found  that  we 
were  equally  determined  to  defend  ourselves. 
The  dogs  were  followed  by  the  denizens  of  the 
place,  ten  or  twelve  in  number,  including  Fron- 
yo's  father,  mother,  brothers,  and  sisters. 

Their  greeting  consisted  in  grasping  right 
hands,  throwing  out  the  lips  as  far  as  possible  and 
touching  the  two  cheeks  and  lips  of  the  friend.  I 
pretended  ignorance  of  the  ceremony.    In  truth. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  107 

they  were  so  unconscionably  dirty  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  tell  the  color  of  their  skin,  and  besides, 
I  could  not  distinguish  the  men  from  the  women. 
But  I  learned  later  that  the  dress  of  the  two  sexes 
does  differ  slightly,  for  the  women  have  a  little 
fringe  about  the  bottom  of  the  skirt,  which  is  split 
up  the  back  precisely  like  our  frock-coats. 

The  flap  of  the  tent  was  drawn  aside  and  we 
crept  in,  only  to  find  ourselves  buried  in  a  dense 
cloud  of  smoke,  which  came  from  an  open  fire 
burning  in  the  middle  of  the  tent,  and  which  es- 
caped through  a  hole  at  the  top,  as  in  the  wigwam 
of  the  North  American  Indian.  On  sitting  down, 
I  discovered  that  near  the  ground  the  air  was  com- 
paratively clear.  Because  of  this  smoke,  the  na- 
tives suffer  severely  from  sore  eyes. 

Among  the  Tunguses  the  guest  is  always  sup- 
posed to  provide  the  tea,  so  I  had  Kim  bring  out 
a  brick,  and  it  was  brewed  and  served  with  bread 
and  sugar.  For  supper  I  had  a  splendid  salmon- 
trout  spitted  before  the  fire,  and  it  seemed  the 
most  delicious  morsel  I  had  ever  tasted.  Then  we 
lighted  our  pipes  and  took  our  ease.  I  noticed 
that  the  women  carried  pipes.  The  little  brass 
pipe-bowls  are  bought  from  the  Russian  traders 
and  are  fitted  with  reed  stems  about  eight  inches 
long.  Some  of  the  pipe-stems  were  made  of  two 
pieces  of  wood  grooved  down  the  center  and  then 
bound  together  with   deer  thong.      They  mix 


108  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

Manchu  tobacco  with  the  dried  inner  bark  of  the 
fir  tree. 

When  it  came  time  to  retire,  several  logs  were 
added  to  the  fii'e  in  the  center  of  the  tent,  the 
deerskins  were  spread,  and  each  lay  down  in  the 
clothes  he  or  she  had  worn  all  day.  The  tent 
was  twelve  feet  in  diameter,  and  in  that  space 
twenty- two  persons  slept ;  three  of  them  were  in- 
fants who  were  swung  from  the  top  and  just 
below  the  smoke  hne.  Indeed  we  lay  like  matches 
in  a  box,  and  certain  grave  misgivings  I  had  rela- 
tive to  living  mementoes  of  the  occasion  were 
later  verified. 

But  before  retiring  I  witnessed  a  scene  that 
would  have  put  to  shame  not  a  few  of  the  homes 
in  America.  These  Timguses  are,  many  of  them, 
adherents  of  the  Greek  Church.  There  was  an 
icon  in  the  tent,  and  before  and  after  eating  they 
crossed  themselves  before  it.  Now  as  we  were 
about  to  retire  the  family  shook  hands  and  kissed 
one  another.  They  came  and  shook  my  hand  and 
said,  "  Pleasant  sleep."  Then  the  old  man  turned 
his  face  upward,  closed  his  eyes  and  said,  "  O 
God,  do  not  forget  our  home  to-night."  Consid- 
ering the  surroundings,  it  was  the  most  impres- 
sive thing  I  had  ever  witnessed. 

On  our  departure  the  next  day  we  made  the  old 
people  happy  with  the  gift  of  several  bricks  of 
tea.     Snow  had  fallen  during  the  night  to  the 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  109 

depth  of  six  inches.  Winter  was  on  us  in  full 
force.  As  we  left  we  were  followed  from  the 
yourta  by  a  beautiful  black  dog  the  size  of  a  fox. 
I  was  to  become  well  acquainted  with  him  later. 
We  camped  that  night  on  the  banks  of  the  Tu- 
iTimcha  where  I  was  to  commence  my  work.  The 
stream  was  only  sixty  feet  wide,  but  it  was  swift 
and  turgid  and  filled  with  floating  ice. 

The  next  morning  we  were  obliged  to  ford  it; 
so,  tying  a  lariat  about  Bill's  neck  and  leaving  the 
end  of  it  in  Kim's  hands,  I  mounted  and  forced 
the  horse  into  the  water.  At  the  deepest  point 
it  came  well  up  to  his  shoulders  and  he  found  it 
hard  to  keep  his  feet,  but  we  got  safely  over. 
Kim  pulled  the  horse  back  by  the  lariat  and  the 
guide  came  across.  That  long-suffering  brute 
had  to  make  four  round  trips  before  we  and  our 
effects  were  all  across  the  river.  When  Kim 
started  across,  the  dog  began  to  howl  piteously, 
but  finally  sprang  into  the  water  after  us.  When 
in  mid-stream  he  encountered  a  floating  cake  of 
ice.  He  climbed  upon  it  and  was  whirled  down- 
stream and  out  of  sight.  He  got  across,  however, 
and  caught  up  with  us  two  hours  later. 

We  followed  up  the  bed  of  the  stream,  stop- 
ping often  to  examine  it  for  signs  of  gold.  We 
sunk  shafts  here  and  there  and  panned  the  gravel 
in  the  icy  water  of  the  stream,  always  getting  a 
few  "  colors  "  but  nothing  of  particular  interest. 


110  IN    SEARCH    OF   A 

Each  night  we  camped  in  some  sheltered  nook, 
often  in  heavy  timber,  and  our  first  move  always 
was  to  change  our  wet  boots.  One  night  I  spread 
out  my  deerskin  bed,  put  on  my  heavy  fur  coat 
and  cap,  lay  down  as  usual  with  the  canvas  tar- 
paulin over  all,  and  was  soon  asleep.  About  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning  I  felt  something  warm 
moving  at  my  side.  I  put  out  my  hand  and 
found  that  it  was  the  black  dog  which  had  fol- 
lowed us.  We  called  him  Howka.  When  I 
stirred  he  oiFered  to  leave,  but  I  patted  him  and 
coaxed  him  to  remain,  which  he  was  quite  willing 
to  do.  Afterward  I  bought  him,  and  for  a  year 
he  was  my  constant  companion.  Once,  during  a 
long  period  of  semi-starvation,  he  saved  my  life 
by  hunting  sea-gulls'  nests,  from  which  I  took 
the  eggs. 

After  working  my  way  up  to  the  headwaters 
of  the  stream  without  finding  gold  in  paying 
quantities,  I  determined  to  cross  over  the  divide 
into  another  section,  but  my  guide,  Fronyo, 
begged  me  to  go  one  day's  trip  farther  up  the 
little  brook  to  a  place  which  he  described  as 
"  white  walls  with  little  sparkling  points  like  the 
stars."  I  said  to  myself,  "  Probably  quartz  with 
sulphurets  "  (bisulphide  of  iron) .  So  on  we  went 
and  came  at  last  to  the  shiny  wall.  It  proved  to 
be  a  large  vein  of  low  grade  gold  ore  crossing 
the  brook  at  right  angles.     Panning  below  I 


n 

l-S 


n 

o 
en 


H 


§  I 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  113 

found  nothing  of  particular  value;  so  breaking 
off  fragments  of  the  rocks  we  piled  them  up  be- 
side the  stream,  making  a  little  monument  to 
mark  the  spot,  should  I  wish  to  revisit  it.  I  ap- 
peared to  be  now  in  a  mineral  country.  We  went 
on  up  the  brook,  panning  continually,  but  no- 
where on  the  bed-rock  found  gold  in  paying 
quantities. 

We  had  now  reached  the  top  of  the  divide,  and 
so  crossed  over  into  a  district  called  TolofFka, 
with  a  stream  of  the  same  name,  where  we  spent 
several  days.  The  cold  was  intense.  The  ther- 
mometer registered  ten  degrees  below  zero.  The 
streams  were  all  ice-bound,  except  where  they 
were  very  swift.  The  snow  was  about  a  foot 
deep,  and  Bill  was  faring  badly.  His  only  food 
was  the  tops  of  the  grass  that  stuck  up  through 
the  snow  or  that  could  be  found  on  wind-swept 
places.  He  was  so  weak  that  he  could  only  pack 
sixty  pounds,  and  that  with  difficulty.  All  our 
food  was  gone  except  rice  and  tea.  Our  tobacco 
had  long  ago  given  out,  and,  as  a  substitute,  we 
used  brick  tea  mixed  with  pine  bark.  It  made  a 
smoke — and  that  was  all.  The  rough  work  had 
destroyed  my  boots.  I  had  used  one  pair  to  mend 
the  soles  of  the  other.  My  guide  made  a  needle 
of  a  fish  bone,  and  with  thread  from  the  fiber  of 
a  vine  sewed  the  soles  on  for  me.  It  was  evi- 
dently time  for  us  to  be  turning  our  faces  home- 


114  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

ward.  We  went  straight  for  the  yourta  where 
Fronyo's  family  hved,  and  of  course  made  it  in 
far  less  time  than  it  had  taken  us  to  come.  I 
found  that  the  whole  trip  had  covered  just  one 
month.  Bill  came  very  near  giving  out  on  the 
home  trip,  but  by  a  heroic  eiFort  pulled  through 
and  was  rewarded  at  the  journey's  end  by  get- 
ting all  the  provender  he  could  stow  away. 

As  Bill  had  to  carry  the  pack  and  as  my  feet 
were  not  in  the  best  condition,  Fronyo  proposed 
that  I  ride  to  Ghijiga  on  a  reindeer.  A  fine  big 
bull  of  about  five  hundred  pounds  was  brought 
out  and  I  looked  him  over.  I  had  some  misgiv- 
ings, but  at  last  decided  to  accept  the  offer.  The 
saddle  was  made  with  reindeer  bones  for  a  foun- 
dation. These  were  securely  bound  together, 
padded  with  moss,  and  covered  with  rawhide. 
The  antlers  of  the  deer  had  a  spread  of  five  feet, 
and  there  were  so  many  prongs  that  I  never  tried 
to  count  them.  Much  to  my  surprise,  I  found 
that  the  motion  of  my  steed  was  a  smooth  and 
gliding  one,  even  more  comfortable  than  the  gait 
of  a  single-footer.  It  had  taken  us  three  days  to 
walk  up  from  Chrisoffsky's  to  the  yourta.  It 
took  just  eight  hours  to  make  the  same  trip  in  the 
other  direction. 

Chrisoffsky's  house  was  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
stream,  while  we  were  on  the  right.  It  would 
have  been  death  to  the  deer  to  have  taken  him 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  115 

within  scent  of  the  dogs.  So  I  dismounted  two 
miles  from  the  house,  tethered  the  deer,  and  made 
my  way  in  on  foot.  The  stream  was  not  solidly 
frozen,  so  I  fired  off  my  gun  and  brought  out  the 
whole  settlement.  A  boat  was  found,  and  pres- 
ently I  was  seated  again  at  old  Chrisoffsky's 
fireside. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

DOG-SLEDGING  AND  THE  FUR  TRADE 

Description  of  the  sledge  and  its  seven  pairs  of  dogs — The 
harness — The  useful  polka — The  start-off  a  gymnastic 
performance  for  the  driver — Methods  of  steering  and 
avoiding  obstructions  while  going  at  full  speed — Dog- 
trading  en  route — Dog-fights  are  plentiful — Prices  of 
sable  and  other  skins  in  the  native  market — The  four 
grades  of  sables — How  they  live  and  what  they  live  on — 
A  Russian  writer  on  sable  hunting — Days  when  a  native 
would  barter  eighteen  sable  skins  for  an  ax. 

I  COULD  not  delay  here.  The  sledge-road 
to  Ghijiga  was  in  fine  condition,  and,  hiring 
a  team  of  dogs,  I  started  out  the  next  morning  on 
my  first  sledge-ride.  Our  team  consisted  of  four- 
teen big,  wolf  like  sledge-dogs  with  shaggy  coats 
and  erect  pointed  ears.  Some  were  white,  some 
black,  some  gray,  some  red,  and  some  a  bluish 
color.  The  two  leaders  were  a  magnificent  pair — 
one  red,  the  other  blue.  They  were  all  fierce- 
looking  fellows,  but  I  had  no  difficulty  in  stroking 
them,  as  they  like  to  be  j)etted.  The  harness  con- 
sisted of  a  breast  collar  and  a  belly-band.  Lead- 
ing back  from  the  collar,  and  held  in  place  on  the 

116 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  117 

sides  by  the  belly-band,  are  two  thongs,  which  are 
attached  to  a  ring  directly  behind  the  dog.  From 
this  ring  a  single  thong,  three  feet  in  length,  at- 
taches the  dog  to  the  central  tug  which  draws  the 
sledge.  Each  thong  is  fastened  to  a  ring  on  the 
tug  by  means  of  a  wooden  pin  three  inches  long. 
The  dogs  are  always  fastened  to  the  tug  in  pairs. 
The  central  tug  leads  forward  from  the  sledge  to 
a  point  between  the  leading  pair  of  dogs.  Be- 
tween the  several  pairs  is  a  clear  space  of  about 
eighteen  inches. 

The  sledge  itself,  which  is  called  a  narta^  is  a  re- 
markable vehicle.  It  is  made  of  light  basswood 
without  nails  or  screws.  The  parts  are  bound  to- 
gether with  wall-US  thongs.  It  is  admirably 
adapted  to  survive  the  hard  knocks  which  it  is 
sure  to  receive.  It  has  just  the  necessary  amount 
of  "  give  "  without  losing  anything  in  strength. 
The  runners  are  from  ten  to  fourteen  feet  long 
and  two  feet  apart.  They  are  from  three  to  four 
inches  wide  and  unshod.  The  bed  of  the  sledge 
is  raised  ten  inches  above  the  runners  by  means 
of  posts  at  frequent  intervals.  On  each  side  is  a 
railing  six  inches  high,  with  a  thong  mesh  to  pre- 
vent the  load  from  falling  off.  At  about  one 
third  the  distance  from  the  front  to  the  back  of 
the  sledge  is  placed  a  perpendicular  bow  of  stout 
wood,  which  rises  some  four  feet  and  a  half  from 
the  ground.     The  driver  sits  behind  this,  and 


118  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

whenever  an  obstruction  is  met  with,  he  steps  off 
quickly  at  the  side  and  pulls  the  sledge  one  way 
or  the  other  by  means  of  this  bow,  which  he  grasps 
in  the  right  hand.  The  driver  holds  a  stout  steel- 
shod  stick  five  feet  in  length  with  a  cord  attached 
to  the  end.  He  can  use  this  polka  as  a  brake  by 
putting  it  between  the  runners  and  digging  it  into 
the  ground,  or  he  can  anchor  the  sledge  with  it 
by  driving  it  perpendicularly  into  the  snow  imme- 
diately in  front  of  the  sledge  and  then  tying  the 
cord  to  the  bow  which  has  been  described.  When 
this  is  done  the  sledge  cannot  possibly  move 
forward. 

Several  bearskins  were  laid  in  the  bed  of  the 
sledge  for  me,  and  a  back-rest  was  made  by  lash- 
ing together  three  cross-pieces.  I  was  told  to 
keep  as  far  down  as  possible,  as  it  would  lessen 
the  probability  of  capsizing.  Before  starting,  one 
more  important  piece  of  work  had  to  be  per- 
formed. Chrisoffsky,  using  the  polka  as  a  lever, 
tipped  the  sledge  up  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  de- 
grees, exposing  the  bottom  of  one  runner,  and 
proceeded  to  scrape  it  with  a  knife  he  always  car- 
ried in  a  sheath  at  his  thigh.  Then  from  under  his 
fur  coat  he  drew  out  a  little  bottle  of  water  which 
was  fastened  about  his  neck  with  a  cord,  and  wet- 
ting a  piece  of  deer  fur  as  one  would  wet  a 
sponge,  he  drew  it  rapidlj^  along  the  runner,  with 
the  result  that  a  thin  film  of  ice  was  formed  along 


CD 
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SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  121 

its  whole  length.  The  other  runner  was  treated 
likewise.  This  is  a  very  important  part  of  the 
preparation  for  a  sledge-ride. 

While  this  was  going  on  the  dogs  were  con- 
tinually yelping  with  excitement  and  leaping  in 
their  collars,  eager  to  be  off.  Old  Chrisoffsky 
quieted  them  with  the  cry  "  Chy,  chy,  chy."  The 
old  gentleman  himself  was  to  be  my  driver,  and  I 
mounted  and  was  carefully  tucked  in  by  kindly, 
even  if  dirty,  hands,  while  Chrisoffsky  restrained 
the  dogs.  I  said  good-by,  and  settled  back  to  wit- 
ness a  marvelous  feat  of  human  dexterity  on  the 
part  of  the  driver,  and  of  almost  human  intelli- 
gence on  the  part  of  the  dogs.  It  was  a  crisp,  cold 
morning.  The  road  was  well  broken,  but  the 
difficulty  was  in  getting  out  of  the  village  with  its 
narrow,  winding  paths  to  the  open  tundra  where 
the  road  was  straight  and  easy. 

As  Chrisoffskv  untied  the  cord  from  the  bow, 
the  alert  dogs  gave  a  wild  j^ell,  and  strained  at 
their  collars  as  though  they  had  gone  mad.  He 
drew  out  the  polka,  placed  one  foot  on  tlie  run- 
ner, gave  the  bow  a  jerk  to  dislodge  the  sledge 
from  its  position  in  the  snow,  and  shouted, 
"  Hyuk,  hyuk,  hyuk!"  to  the  impatient  dogs. 
They  sprang  f orM^ard  together,  giving  the  sledge 
a  jerk  that  nearly  threw  me  overboard,  and 
dashed  forward  at  a  terrific  speed,  Chrisoffsky 
still  standing  on  the  runner  and  waving  the  polka 


122  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

in  his  hand.  We  were  off  like  a  shot  amid  the 
laughter  and  good-bys  of  Chrisoif sky's  numer- 
ous progeny.  The  trick  was  to  get  the  dogs 
around  those  sharp  curves  at  such  a  speed  without 
upsetting  the  sledge.  The  driver  by  shouting, 
"  Put,  put,  put!  "  could  make  them  swerve  about 
forty-five  degrees  to  the  right,  and  they  would 
continue  to  turn  till  he  stopped ;  then  they  would 
go  straight  ahead.  If  he  wanted  them  to  turn  to 
the  left  he  would  give  a  strong  guttural,  scraping 
noise  that  sounded  like  an  intensified  German 
"  ch,"  repeated  as  long  as  he  wished  them  to  con- 
tinue turning.  If  we  met  an  obstruction  he  would 
leap  off,  even  when  going  at  full  speed,  and 
by  means  of  the  bow  pull  or  push  the  sledge  free 
from  the  impending  smash,  and  then  leap  on 
again  as  nimbly  as  a  cat,  despite  his  sixty-odd 
years.  As  we  swept  out  of  the  village,  fol- 
lowed by  the  shouts  of  "  Doswi  dania  "  (good- 
by),  we  plunged  down  into  a  gully  and  up  the 
other  side  on  to  the  open  tundra,  the  dogs  on  the 
dead  run.  For  a  time  our  speed  must  have  been 
nearly  that  of  a  greyhound  at  full  stretch.  Old 
Chrisoffsky  looked  back  at  me  and  laughed,  and 
asked  me  how  I  liked  it. 

I  have  ridden  a  good  many  kinds  of  vehicles, 
but  for  beauty  of  motion  give  me  a  narta  with 
fourteen  big,  wild  dogs,  and  a  smooth  road.  The 
narta  goes  Hke  a  snake,  it  is  so  sinuous  and  adapts 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  123 

itself  so  perfectly  to  the  irregularities  of  the 
road. 

After  a  while  the  dogs  got  the  "  wire  edge  " 
worked  oif  their  enthusiasm  and  settled  down  to 
a  good  steady  trot  that  took  us  along  at  the  rate 
of  seven  miles  an  hour.  They  worked  together 
as  smoothly  as  a  machine.  When  they  became 
thirsty,  they  would  lap  up  the  snow  beside  the 
path.  If  one  of  the  dogs  stops  drawing  and  be- 
gins to  shirk,  the  driver  stands  up  and  throws  the 
polka  at  him,  hitting  him  on  the  head  or  back,  and 
then,  by  a  dexterous  motion,  pushes  the  narta  to 
one  side  and  recovers  the  polka  as  the  sledge 
passes  it.  The  dog  so  warned  will  probably  go 
miles  with  his  head  over  his  shoulder  watcliing  to 
see  if  he  is  going  to  be  sti-uck  again ;  and  all  the 
other  dogs,  too,  keep  a  weather-eye  open.  The 
best  dogs  are  always  in  the  lead,  and  the  poorest 
ones  back  near  the  driver,  where  he  can  manage 
them  most  easily. 

If  a  dog  refuses  to  draw,  the  sledge  is  stopped 
and-  the  driver,  to  an  accompaniment  of  very 
choice  language,  beats  the  sluggard  with  the  lash 
of  the  polka  till  he  deems  the  punishment  suffi- 
cient. That  dog  will  need  no  more  reminders  for 
a  day  at  least.  Almost  always  after  starting  out 
one  or  two  dogs  have  to  be  handled  in  this  manner 
before  they  will  settle  down  to  the  day's  work. 
Not  infrequently  dog-teams,  meeting  in  the  road. 


124  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

will  stop  and  the  drivers  will  proceed  to  "  swap 
horses,"  or  rather  dogs,  in  the  true  David  Harum 
style.  But  the  two  leaders  are  never  exchanged 
in  this  way.  They  are  the  driver's  favorites,  and 
are  too  valuable  to  risk  in  such  a  trade.  Even  if 
their  master  is  starving  he  will  not  part  with  his 
leaders. 

About  five  miles  out,  we  met  a  team  of  dogs 
going  up-country.  We  stopped  simultaneously 
to  exchange  news,  and  inside  of  ten  seconds  one 
of  our  dogs  made  a  jump  at  one  of  the  other  team. 
This  was  the  signal,  and  in  an  instant  all  the 
twenty-eight  dogs  were  at  it  tooth  and  nail  in  one 
grand  scrimmage.  After  beating  them  unmerci- 
fully, the  drivers  were  able  to  separate  the  two 
teams,  and  we  found  that  three  of  our  dogs  were 
limping.  I  then  learned  that  in  a  fight  the  Sibe- 
rian dog  does  not  make  for  his  antagonist's 
throat,  but  for  his  feet,  for  he  seems  to  know  that 
injury  to  that  member  is  the  most  serious  that  can 
happen  to  a  sledge-dog.  It  was  amusing  to  see 
with  what  deftness  they  would  draw  their  feet 
back  from  the  snap  of  the  enemy.  The  neck  is 
generally  covered  with  a  thick  growth  of  hair 
which  is  impervious  to  teeth,  while  from  the  ankle 
to  the  foot  the  hair  is  cut  away  by  the  driver  to 
prevent  the  snow  from  balling  upon  it.  Our 
troubles  proved  not  to  be  serious,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  third  hour  we  approached  Ghijiga.     As 


< 

5 
a. 

n> 


o 
I 


o 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  127 

soon  as  the  dogs  scented  the  town  they  gave  a 
simultaneous  yelp  and  broke  into  a  swift  run,  as 
is  always  their  custom  in  approaching  any  settle- 
ment. At  the  same  time  all  the  dogs  of  the  vil- 
lage, apparently,  came  rushing  out  to  meet  us, 
and  ran  alongside  yelping  and  snapping  in  a 
friendly  way  at  our  dogs.  Old  Chrisoffskj^  drew 
up  with  a  flourish  before  my  cabin,  where  I  re- 
ceived a  hearty  welcome  from  the  townsfolk. 
This  day's  trip  from  ChrisofFsky's  house  by  dog- 
sledge  cost  me  the  enormous  sum  of  one  rouble, 
or  fifty  cents  in  United  States  gold. 

It  was  now  late  in  October,  and  it  was  necessary 
for  me  to  stop  in  Ghijiga  while  my  winter  outfit 
of  clothes  was  being  prepared.  The  snow  was  al- 
ready deep  and  the  river  frozen  solid,  excepting 
at  the  rapids.  But  cold  as  it  was,  my  work  was 
but  just  beginning,  for  it  is  only  in  winter  that 
long  distance  travel  is  possible.  In  summer  you 
may  struggle  across  six  or  eight  miles  of  spongy 
tundra  a  day,  but  in  winter  you  can  easily  cover 
from  sixty  to  ninety  miles,  depending  upon  the 
quality  of  your  teams  and  the  number  of  your 
relays. 

By  this  time  the  natives  were  beginning  to 
bring  in  their  furs  and  other  valuables  to  ex- 
change with  the  merchants  of  the  trading  com- 
pany. It  may  be  of  interest  to  give  the  prevail- 
ing prices. 


128  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

The  native,  ordinarily,  does  not  take  money  for 
his  skins,  but  various  kinds  of  necessaries.  Re- 
ducing it  all,  however,  to  a  monetary  basis,  we 
find  that  he  receives  for  sable  skin  ten  to  thirteen 
roubles;  red-fox  skin,  two  to  three  roubles; 
white-fox  skin,  one  and  a  half  roubles;  black- 
fox  skin,  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  roubles; 
blue-squirrel  skin,  thirty-five  cents;  unborn-deer 
skin,  twelve  cents;  turbogan  (kind  of  coon),  fif- 
teen cents ;  yearling-deer  skin,  seventy-five  cents ; 
sea-dog  skin,  one  rouble;  black-bear  skin,  seven 
roubles ;  brown-bear  skin,  five  roubles ;  white-bear 
skin,  tv/enty-five  roubles;  walrus  rope,  two  cents 
a  yard;  walrus  ivory,  from  five  cents  to  one  and 
a  half  roubles  a  tusk ;  mammoth  tusk,  five  to  six 
roubles ;  fur  coats,  one  and  a  half  to  five  roubles ; 
boots,  twenty-five  cents  to  seventy-five  cents  a 
pair.  For  an  ermine  skin  he  is  wont  to  receive 
two  needles  or  a  piece  of  sugar  as  large  as  a 
thimble. 

In  exchange  for  these  commodities  the  traders 
give  tea,  sugar,  powder,  lead,  cartridges,  tobacco, 
bar  iron  one  inch  wide  by  a  quarter  of  an  inch 
thick,  needles,  beads,  and  various  other  trinkets. 

When  the  goods  are  marketed  it  is  found  that 
the  company  makes  anywhere  from  one  hundred 
to  one  thousand  per  cent,  profit.  Tea,  the  article 
most  called  for,  allows  only  one  hundred  per  cent, 
profit.    On  sugar  some  three  hundred  per  cent,  is 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  131 

made,  and  on  the  trinkets  and  other  miscellaneous 
goods  anywhere  from  five  hundred  to  one  thou- 
sand per  cent,  is  made. 

Several  significant  facts  are  to  be  deduced  from 
this  list :  first,  the  low  price  that  is  paid  for  sables 
compared  with  the  prices  they  bring  in  the  Euro- 
pean market;  second,  the  comparatively  high 
price  the  skin  of  the  black  fox  brings,  although 
it  is  only  a  fraction  of  what  it  costs  at  home  (a 
single  skin  has  brought  as  high  as  four  thousand 
dollars  in  Paris)  ;  third,  the  extremely  low  cost  of 
ermine ;  and  fourth,  the  fact  that  there  is  no  active 
trade  in  mammoth  tusks,  although  they  are  plen- 
tiful. They  are  often  ten  feet  in  length,  and  it 
might  be  supposed  that  they  would  contain  ivory 
enough  to  make  them  worth  mucli  more  than  they 
bring;  but  the  fact  is  that  it  is  fossil  ivory,  and 
the  outside  of  each  tusk  is  so  far  broken  and  de- 
cayed that  only  the  very  center  of  the  tusk  con- 
tains marketable  ivory. 

The  common  rule  is  to  give  the  natives  one 
year's  credit;  the  tea,  sugar,  tobacco,  and  other 
articles  which  they  receive  this  year  being  paid 
for  by  the  skins  which  they  bring  next  year.  The 
plan  works  well,  for  the  natives  are  sciaipulous  in 
the  payment  of  their  debts.  And  furthermore, 
the  traders,  being  on  the  spot,  have  a  wide  per- 
sonal acquaintance  among  the  natives  and  know 
just  whom  they  can  depend  upon. 


132  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

Of  course  the  most  valuable  portion  of  the 
produce  of  this  north  country  is  sable  skins. 
There  are  four  kinds,  or  rather  grades,  of  sables. 
The  finest  come  from  the  Lena  River  district ;  the 
second  grade  from  the  territory  of  which  we  are 
writing  and  within  a  radius  of  five  hundred  miles 
about  the  head  of  the  Okhotsk  Sea;  the  third 
grade  from  the  Amur  River  district,  and  the 
fourth  from  Manchuria.  Generally,  the  farther 
north  one  goes  the  better  the  sables. 

Before  Siberia  was  conquered  by  Russia,  sables 
were  extremely  common,  but  gradually  they  were 
pushed  back  by  the  coming  of  settlers,  for  they 
will  not  remain  in  the  vicinity  of  human  dwell- 
ings. They  live  in  holes,  as  do  the  martens  or  er- 
mines, but  those  who  have  studied  their  habits  say 
that  they  frequently  build  nests  of  sticks  and 
grass  in  the  branches  of  trees,  and  use  them  alter- 
nately with  their  holes.  They  usually  sleep  about 
half  the  day,  and  roam  about  in  search  of  food  the 
other  half.  In  the  early  spring  they  live  on  hares, 
though  they  will  also  eat  weasles  or  ermine. 
When  the  berries  are  in  season  they  subsist  solely 
on  cranberries,  blueberries,  and  especially  the  ber- 
ries of  the  shad-bush.  The  natives  say  that  eating 
these  last  causes  them  to  itch  and  rub  themselves 
against  the  trees,  which  for  the  time  being  spoils 
their  fur;  so  that  while  the  shad-bush  is  in  berry 
no  sables  are  caught. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  133 

About  the  end  of  March  the  sable  brings  forth 
its  young,  from  three  to  five  in  the  Utter,  and 
suckles  them  from  four  to  six  weeks. 

The  method  of  trapping  sables  has  been  well 
described  by  a  quaint  writer  near  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and,  as  there  have  been 
very  few  changes  during  the  interval,  he  is  worth 
quoting : 

The  sable  hunters,  whether  Russian  or  native,  begin  to 
set  out  for  hunting  about  the  beginning  of  September. 
Some  Russians  go  themselves,  and  others  hire  people  to 
hunt  for  them,  giving  them  proper  clothes  and  instru- 
ments for  hunting,  and  provisions  for  the  time  of  their 
being  out.  When  they  return  from  the  chase  they  give 
their  masters  all  the  game,  and  restore  them  likewise  all 
that  they  received,  except  the  provisions. 

A  company  that  agrees  to  hunt  together  assembles 
from  six  to  forty  men,  though  formerly  there  were  some- 
times even  fifty.  They  provide  a  small  boat  for  every 
three  or  four  men,  which  they  cover  over;  and  take 
with  them  such  persons  as  understand  the  language  of 
the  people  among  whom  they  go  to  hunt,  and  like- 
wise the  places  properest  for  hunting.  These  persons 
they  maintain  at  the  public  charge,  and  give  them,  be- 
sides, an  equal  share  of  the  game. 

In  these  boats  every  hunter  lays  thirty  poods  of  rye- 
flour,  one  pood  ^  of  wheat-flour,  one  pood  of  salt,  and  a 
quarter  of  a  pood  of  groats.     Every  two  men  must  have 

1  Russian  weight  equivalent  to  thirty-six  pounds  avoirdupois. 


134  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

a  net,  a  dog,  and  several  poods  of  provisions  for  the  dog, 
a  bed  and  covering,  a  vessel  for  preparing  their  bread, 
and  a  vessel  to  hold  leaven.  They  carry  with  them  very 
few  firearms. 

The  boats  are  then  drawn  up-stream  as  far  as  they 
can  go,  where  the  hunters  build  for  themselves.  Here 
they  all  assemble  and  live  until  the  river  is  frozen  over. 
In  the  mean  time  they  choose  for  their  chief  leader  one 
who  has  been  oftenest  upon  these  expeditions ;  and  to  his 
orders  they  profess  an  entire  obedience.  He  divides  the 
company  into  several  small  parties,  and  names  a  leader 
to  each,  except  his  own,  which  he  himself  directs ;  he  also 
appoints  the  places  where  each  party  is  to  hunt.  As 
soon  as  the  season  begins,  this  division  into  small  parties 
is  unalterable,  even  though  the  whole  company  consists 
of  only  eight  or  nine,  for  they  never  all  go  toward  the 
same  place.  When  their  leaders  have  given  them  their 
orders,  every  small  company  digs  pits  upon  the  road  by 
which  they  must  go.  In  these  pits  they  lay  up  for  every 
two  men  three  bags  o"  flour  against  their  return,  when 
they  shall  have  consumed  all  their  other  provisions ;  and 
whatever  they  have  left  in  the  huts  they  are  obliged 
to  hide  also  in  pits,  lest  the  wild  inhabitants  should 
steal  it. 

As  soon  as  the  rivers  are  frozen  over  and  the  season 
is  proper  for  the  sable  hunting,  the  chief  of  the  leaders 
calls  all  the  huntsmen  into  the  hut,  and,  having  prayed  to 
God,  gives  orders  to  every  chief  of  each  small  company, 
and  despatches  them  the  same  road  which  was  before  as- 
signed them.  Then  the  leader  sets  out  one  day  before 
the  rest  to  provide  lodging-places  for  them. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  135 

When  the  chief  leader  despatches  the  under-leaders  he 
gives  them  several  orders ;  one  of  which  is  that  each  should 
build  his  first  lodging  in  honor  of  some  church,  which 
he  names,  and  the  other  lodgings  to  some  such  saint 
whose  image  he  has  with  him,  and  that  the  first  sable 
they  catch  should  be  laid  aside  in  the  quarter  of  the 
church,  and  at  their  return  be  presented  to  it.  These 
sables  they  call  "  God's  Sables,"  or  the  church's.  The 
first  sable  that  is  caught  in  the  quarter  of  each  saint  is 
given  to  the  person  who  brought  the  image  of  that  saint 
with  him. 

On  their  march  they  support  themselves  with  a  wooden 
crutch  about  four  feet  long ;  upon  the  end  of  which  they 
put  a  cow's  horn,  to  keep  it  from  being  split  by  the  ice, 
and  a  little  above  they  bind  it  around  with  thongs  to 
keep  it  from  sinking  too  deep  in  the  snow.  The  upper 
part  is  broad  like  a  spade,  and  serves  to  shovel  away  the 
snow  or  to  take  it  up  and  put  it  into  their  kettles,  for 
they  must  use  snow,  as  they  have  frequently  no  water. 
The  principal  chief  having  sent  out  the  small  parties, 
starts  with  his  own.  When  they  come  to  the  places  of 
lodging  they  build  little  huts  of  logs,  and  bank  them  up 
with  snow  round  about.  They  hew  several  trees  upon 
the  road,  that  they  may  the  more  easily  find  their  way  in 
the  winter.  Near  every  quarter  they  prepare  their  trap- 
pits,  each  of  which  is  surrounded  with  sharp  stakes,  about 
six  or  seven  feet  high,  and  about  four  feet  distant,  and  is 
covered  over  with  boards  to  prevent  the  snow  from  fall- 
ing in.  The  entrance  through  the  stakes  is  narrow, 
and  over  it  a  board  is  hung  so  nicely  that  by  the  least 
touch  of  the  sables  it  turns  and  throws  them  into  the 

7 


136  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

trap;  and  they  must  absolutely  go  this  way  to  reach  a 
piece  of  fish  or  flesh  with  which  the  trap  is  baited.  The 
hunters  stay  in  a  station  till  they  have  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  traps  set,  every  hunter  being  obliged  to  make 
twenty  in  a  day.  When  they  have  passed  ten  of  these 
quarters  the  leader  sends  back  half  of  his  company  to 
bring  up  the  provisions  that  were  left  behind,  and  with 
the  remainder  he  advances  to  build  more  huts  and  set 
more  traps. 

These  carriers  must  stop  at  all  the  lodging-places  to 
see  that  the  traps  are  in  order,  and  take  out  any  sables 
they  may  find  in  them,  and  skin  them,  which  none  must 
pretend  to  do  but  the  chief  man  of  the  company. 

If  the  sables  are  frozen  they  thaw  them  out  by  putting 
them  under  the  bedclothes  with  them.  When  the  skins 
are  taken  off^,  all  present  sit  down  and  are  silent,  being 
careful  that  nothing  is  hanging  on  the  stakes.  The  body 
of  the  sable  is  laid  upon  dried  sticks,  and  these  are  after- 
ward lighted,  the  body  of  the  animal  smoked,  and  then 
buried  in  the  snow  or  the  earth.  Often  when  they  ap- 
prehend that  the  Tunguses  may  meet  them  and  take 
away  their  booty,  they  put  the  skins  into  hollow  pieces 
of  wood  and  seal  up  the  ends  with  snow,  which  being 
wetted  soon  freezes.  These  they  hide  in  the  snow  near 
their  huts,  and  gather  them  up  when  they  return  in  a 
body.  When  the  carriers  are  come  with  provisions,  then 
the  other  half  are  sent  for  more ;  and  thus  they  are  em- 
ployed in  hunting,  the  leader  always  going  before  to 
build  traps.  When  they  find  few  sables  in  their  traps 
they  hunt  with  nets,  which  they  can  only  do  when  they 
find  the  fresh  tracks  of  sables  in  the  snow.    These  they 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  137 

follow  till  it  brings  them  to  the  hole  where  the  sable  has 
entered;  or  if  they  lose  it  near  other  holes,  they  put 
smoking  pieces  of  rotten  wood  to  them,  which  generally 
forces  the  sable  to  leave  the  hole.  The  hunter  at  the 
same  time  has  spread  his  net,  into  which  the  animal  usu- 
ally falls;  and  for  precaution  his  dog  is  generally  near 
at  hand.  Thus  the  hunter  sits  and  waits  sometimes  two 
or  three  days.  They  know  when  the  sable  falls  into  the 
net  by  the  sound  of  two  small  bells  which  are  fastened  to 
it.  They  never  put  smoky  pieces  of  wood  into  those 
holes  which  have  only  one  opening,  for  the  sable  would 
sooner  be  smothered  than  come  towards  the  smoke,  in 
which  case  it  is  lost. 

When  the  chief  leader  and  all  the  hunters  are  gathered 
together,  then  the  leaders  of  the  small  parties  report  to 
the  chief  how  many  sables  or  other  beasts  their  party 
has  killed,  and  if  any  of  the  parties  have  done  anything 
contrary  to  his  orders  and  the  common  laws.  These 
crimes  they  punish  in  different  ways.  Some  of  the  cul- 
prits they  tie  to  a  stake;  others  they  oblige  to  ask  par- 
don from  every  one  in  the  company;  a  thief  they  beat 
severely,  and  allow  him  no  part  of  the  booty ;  nay,  they 
even  take  his  own  baggage  from  him  and  divide  it  among 
themselves.  They  remain  in  their  headquarters  until  the 
rivers  are  free  of  ice ;  and  after  the  hunting  they  spend 
their  time  preparing  the  skins.  Then  they  set  out  in  the 
boats  they  came  in,  and  when  they  get  home  they  give  the 
sables  to  the  several  churches  to  which  they  promised 
them ;  and  then,  having  paid  their  fur-tax,  they  sell  the 
rest,  dividing  equally  the  money  or  goods  which  they 
receive  for  them. 


138  SIBERIAN   KLONDIKE 

'Before  Kamchatka  was  conquered  by  the  Rus- 
sians the  sables  were  so  plentiful  that  a  hunter 
could  easily  take  seventy  or  eighty  in  a  season, 
but  they  were  esteemed  more  for  their  flesh  than 
for  their  fur.  At  first  the  natives  paid  their 
tribute  in  sables,  and  would  give  eight  skins  for  a 
knife  and  eighteen  for  an  ax. 


CHAPTER  IX 

OFF  FOR  THE  NOETH A  RUNAWAY 

My  winter  wardrobe  of  deerskin — Shoes  that  keep  the  feet 
warm  when  it  is  sixty  degrees  below  zero — Plemania,  a 
curious  native  food  in  tabloid  form — Other  provisions — 
Outline  of  proposed  exploration  about  the  sources  of  the 
Ghijiga  River — Four  hours  of  sun  a  day — When  dog 
meets  deer — A  race  for  life  and  a  ludicrous  denouement 
— More  queer  native  dishes — Curious  habits  of  the  sledge- 
dog. 

1N0W  set  about  preparing  my  winter  ward- 
robe. With  the  aid  of  my  good  friend  Mrs. 
Braggin,  several  native  women  were  set  at  work 
to  make  a  complete  suit  of  native  clothes,  for  I 
knew  that  only  in  these  would  I  be  able  to  endure 
the  rigors  of  their  arctic  winter.  The  trousers 
were  made  of  yearling-deer  skin  tanned  soft  on 
the  inside,  and  the  short  hair  left  on  the  outside. 
A  short  jacket  of  the  same  material  completed  the 
inner  suit.  The  socks  were  made  of  the  same  skin 
with  the  fur  left  on  the  inside.  They  reached  well 
to  the  knee.  Over  these  came  a  pair  of  boots 
made  from  skin  taken  from  reindeer's  legs,  with 
soles  of  seal-hide.    A  cushion  of  grass  is  used  in 

139 


tfl 


140  IN  SEARCH  OF  K 

the  boot.  The  skin  taken  from  the  reindeer's  leg 
is  better  adapted  to  the  manufacture  of  boots  than 
any  other  part  of  the  skin,  because  the  hair  is 
shorter  and  denser  in  growth  I  also  had  boots 
with  soles  made  of  the  fur  which  grows  between 
the  toes  of  the  reindeer,  and  which  is  of  such  a 
texture  that  it  prevents  slipping  on  the  ice.  On 
each  foot  of  the  reindeer  there  is  a  tuft  of  this  hair 
about  as  large  as  a  silver  dollar,  and  it  takes 
twelve  of  them  to  make  the  sole  of  a  single  boot. 
These  boots  are  used  only  in  extremely  cold 
weather.  Even  with  the  thermometer  sixty  de- 
grees below  zero  they  prevent  cold  feet. 

For  an  overcoat  I  had  a  great  koklanka  made. 
It  was  shaped  like  a  huge  night-gown,  reaching 
to  the  knee.  It  was  made  of  two  thicknesses  of 
yearling-deer  sk'n,  and  was  provided  with  an 
ample  hood.  It  is  too  heavy  to  wear  when  walk- 
ing, but  is  used  in  the  dog-  or  deer-sledge  and 
when  sleeping.  It  is  usually  belted  in  with 
a  gay-colored  woolen  scarf.  For  head-gear  I 
wore  a  "  Nansen  "  woolen  hat  capable  of  being 
drawn  down  over  the  face.  Without  it  my  nose 
would  have  been  severely  punished.  My  heavy 
mittens  were  made  of  fur  from  the  deer's  leg, 
with  the  hair  outside.  Even  in  the  worst  of! 
weather  they  were  a  complete  protection  from 
cold.  Of  snow-shoes  I  took  three  pairs,  two 
being  designed  for  use  in  soft  snow.    They  mea- 


n 
(I 

l-S 

c 


CfQ 

5r 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  143 

sured  five  feet  and  ten  inches  long  by  eight  inches 
wide,  being  pointed  and  curved  up  in  front  and 
gathered  to  a  point  at  the  back.  They  were  shod 
with  reindeer  fur,  with  the  hair  pointing  back, 
thus  preventing  sHpping.  One  pair  for  use  on 
hard  snow  were  three  feet  long  and  eight  inches 
wide. 

An  indispensable  part  of  my  equipment  was  a 
sleeping-bag  made  of  the  thick  winter  fur  of  the 
reindeer,  with  the  fur  inside.  It  was  provided 
with  a  hood  that,  when  pulled  down,  completely 
shut  out  the  cold.  One  would  suppose  that  the 
sleeper  must  smother  in  such  a  case ;  but,  although 
at  first  it  seemed  rather  close,  I  suffered  no  in- 
convenience. Enough  air  found  its  way  in 
around  the  edge  of  the  hood  for  respiration. 

For  provisions  I  first  laid  in  several  hundred 
pounds  of  plemania,  as  the  Russians  call  it.  It 
consists  of  little  balls  of  reindeer  meat  chopped 
fine,  and  surrounded  with  a  casing  of  dough. 
Each  ball  w^as  about  the  size  of  an  English  wal- 
nut. These  froze  immediately  and  remained  so 
till  thrown  into  a  pot  of  boiling  water.  Ten  min- 
utes then  sufficed  to  make  a  most  tempting  dish. 
To  this  I  added  several  hundred  pounds  of  hard 
rye  bread,  which  had  been  cut  in  slices  and  dried 
on  the  top  of  the  oven  to  the  consistency  of  stone. 
Tea,  sugar,  and  tobacco  were  added  as  luxuries, 
though  the  first  is  well-nigh  a  necessity,  and  all 


144  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

of  them  are  potent  levers  in  opening  the  hearts 
of  the  native  Korak  or  Tunguse.  I  took  a  small 
quantity  of  dried  fruits,  which,  of  course,  proved 
most  useful  in  a  land  where  food  is  almost  all  of 
an  animal  nature. 

It  was  my  intention  to  explore  first  the  moun- 
tains in  which  the  Ghijiga  River  has  its  source, 
together  with  the  tributary  streams;  and  after 
that  to  cross  over  the  mountains  and  explore  the 
head  waters  of  the  rivers  flowing  north  into  the 
Arctic  Ocean.  I  anticipated  that  this  would  take 
at  least  two  months. 

Old  ChrisoiFsky  furnished  six  dog-sledges;  he 
himself  and  two  of  his  sons  acted  as  drivers.  The 
other  three  drivers  were  hired  from  Ghijiga.  My 
party  consisted,  then,  of  the  following  members : 
my  faithful  Kim,  who  stuck  to  me  through  thick 
and  thin,  though,  at  first,  he  little  dreamed  how 
far  I  would  take  him  from  the  pleasant  hills  and 
valleys  of  his  beloved  Chosun;  my  Tunguse 
guide,  Fronyo,  who  had  proved  such  a  valuable 
help  in  my  trip  into  his  district;  the  six  drivers, 
myself,  and  the  eighty-four  dogs.  I  had  left  be- 
hind all  my  Russian  help,  as  they  would  have  been 
of  no  value  on  such  an  expedition  as  this. 

The  reader  may  imagine  that  our  stock  of  food 
was  small  for  such  a  party,  but  we  were  going  into 
a  reindeer  country  where  we  were  sure  of  securing 
all  the  meat  we  wanted.    So  all  the  available  space 


Ct) 

ro 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  147 

on  the  sledges  was  loaded  with  dog-food — 
namely,  salmon  heads  and  backs.  It  was  now 
November,  and  there  were  only  four  hours  of 
sunlight — from  ten  to  two.  But  the  northerner 
does  not  depend  on  the  sun.  The  ghstening 
snow  and  the  stars  overhead  give  sufficient  light 
for  ordinary  travel. 

We  were  off  with  a  dash  and  a  happy  howl  of 
mingled  dogs  and  village  children,  at  one  in  the 
afternoon,  and  that  night  we  spent  at  ChrisofF- 
sky'svillage.  Thenext  morningwewere  off  again 
in  the  gray  light  at  seven  o'clock,  up  the  bed  of 
the  Ghijiga  River.  The  third  day  out  we  neared 
the  yourta  of  a  wealthy  Tunguse  magistrate.  At 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  dogs  suddenly 
broke  into  a  swift  run,  and  we  knew  they  had 
scented  something  that  interested  them.  We  soon 
perceived  that  we  had  struck  a  deer  trail  and  that 
we  were  nearing  an  encampment.  We  turned  a 
bend  in  the  road  and  there,  a  hundred  yards  ahead 
of  us,  saw  the  cause  of  the  dogs'  excitement.  A 
team  of  reindeer  were  running  for  their  lives. 
Their  Tunguse  driver  was  lashing  them  with  the 
whip  and  urging  them  on  with  all  his  might,  for 
he  knew  as  well  as  we  that  if  our  dogs  over- 
took them  before  the  camp  was  reached,  we  seven 
men  would  be  utterly  powerless  to  prevent  the 
dogs  from  tearing  the  deer  to  pieces.  ChrisofFsky 
put  on  the  brake  with  all  his  might,  but  it  had  not 


148  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

the  least  eifect.  Our  fourteen  dogs  had  become 
wolves  in  the  turn  of  a  hand  and  no  brake  could 
stop  them.  There  were  many  stumps  and  other 
obstructions  along  our  path,  and  my  driver  had 
great  difficulty  in  preventing  a  smash-up.  For 
a  short  time  the  deer  held  their  own,  and,  in  fact, 
gained  on  us,  but  before  the  yourta  came  in  sight 
we  were  gaining  rapidly.  While  we  were  still 
at  some  distance  the  people  of  the  village,  warned 
by  the  cries  of  the  dogs,  comprehended  what  was 
the  matter,  and,  arming  themselves  with  sticks 
and  spears,  came  running  toward  us.  As  they 
came  on  they  spread  out  in  a  fan-like  formation 
across  the  trail.  When  the  terrified  deer  reached 
them  they  opened  and  let  the  team  through,  and 
instantly  closed  again  to  dispute  the  passage  of 
our  dogs.  ChrisoiFsky  was  in  no  wise  minded  to 
let  these  natives  club  his  dogs  and  perhaps  injure 
the  valuable  animals,  so  he  resorted  to  the  last  ex- 
pedient. Giving  a  shout  of  warning  to  me  he 
suddenly,  by  a  deft  motion,  turned  our  sledge 
completely  over,  landing  me  in  a  snow-drift  on 
my  head.  In  this  position  the  sledge  was  all 
brake  and  the  dogs  were  forced  to  stop,  leaping 
in  their  harness  and  yelling  like  fiends  incarnate. 
I  sat  up  in  the  snow-bank  and  laughed.  The 
other  drivers  had  followed  our  example,  and  the 
stniggling  tangle  of  sledges,  harness,  dogs  and 
men  formed  a  scene  that  to  the  novice  at  least 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  149 

was  highly  ludicrous.  The  drivers  and  the  village 
people  were  belaboring  the  dogs,  and  the  entire 
herd  of  reindeer  belonging  to  the  village  were  es- 
caping in  all  directions  up  the  hills. 

When  order  was  at  last  restored,  which  was  not 
accomplished  till  every  deer  was  out  of  sight,  we 
made  our  way  to  the  yourta,  which  was  large  and 
comfortable,  and,  as  usual,  the  women  set  about 
making  tea.  The  reader  may  well  ask  how  the 
natives  can  use  both  dogs  and  reindeer  if  the 
very  sight  of  a  deer  has  such  a  maddening 
effect  on  the  dogs.  The  explanation  is  sim- 
ple. The  two  never  go  together.  There  is 
the  dog  country  and  the  deer  country,  and 
the  two  do  not  impinge  upon  each  other. 
Even  among  the  same  tribe  there  may  be  a 
clear  division.  For  instance,  there  are  the 
"  Deer  Koraks  "  and  the  "  Dog  Koraks."  In 
some  of  the  villages  of  the  former  there  may  oc- 
casionally be  seen  a  few  low-bred  curs  which  are 
not  used  for  sledging  and  have  been  trained  not 
to  worry  deer.  Confusion  is  often  unavoidably 
caused  by  traveling  with  dogs  through  a  deer 
country,  but  the  natives  do  not  take  it  in  ill  part, 
knowing  that  if  they  themselves  have  to  travel 
with  deer  through  a  dog  country  they  will  cause 
quite  as  much  inconvenience. 

While  we  were  drinking  tea  and  eating  hard 
bread  I  noted  that  the  settlement  contained  some 


150  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

thirty  men,  with  their  wives  and  children.  The 
^vomen  hastened  to  prepare  a  dinner  of  unborn- 
deer's  flesh  and  deer  tongues.  Frozen  marrow 
bones,  uncooked,  were  broken  and  the  marrow,  in 
the  shape  of  sticks  or  candles,  was  passed  around 
as  a  great  delicacy.  These  dishes,  together  with 
frozen  cranberries,  formed  our  repast,  and  a  very 
good  one  we  voted  it. 

When  we  were  done  I  went  outside  and  found, 
to  my  surprise,  that  the  dogs  had  not  yet  been  fed. 
I  remonstrated  with  Chrisoff  sky,  but  he  answered 
that  they  had  not  yet  finished  their  evening  toilet. 
Then  I  saw  that  the  dogs  were  busy  licking  them- 
selves and  biting  the  pieces  of  frozen  snow  out 
from  between  their  toes.  My  driver  explained 
that  if  they  were  fed  before  performing  this  very 
necessary  task,  they  would  immediately  lie  down 
to  sleep  and  wake  up  in  the  morning  with  sore 
feet  and  rheumatism,  and  then  they  would  be  use- 
less for  several  days.  It  takes  the  dogs  a  good 
hour  before  they  have  groomed  themselves  fit  for 
dinner.  They  seem  to  know  that  they  can  get 
nothing  to  eat  before  this  work  is  done,  but  the 
minute  they  have  finished  they  sit  up  and  begin 
to  howl  for  their  meal.  Each  dog  receives  two 
or  three  salmon  backs  and  heads.  This  is  a  fairly 
good  amount  considering  that  the  salmon  were 
originally  eighteen-  or  twenty-pound  fish.  The 
dogs  were  all  left  in  harness  and  still  attached  to 


.^^3 


■*:■ 


Theodosia   Chrisoffsky,  Guide. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  153 

the  main  tug.  This  is  pulled  taut  and  anchored 
at  the  front  with  the  polka,  which  prevents  the 
dogs  from  fighting,  for  no  more  than  two  can 
reach  each  other  at  a  time.  As  they  feed,  the  dri- 
vers watch  them  to  see  that  they  do  not  steal  each 
other's  food.  After  they  finish  their  dinner  they 
scratch  a  shallow  place  in  the  snow,  curl  up  with 
their  backs  to  the  wind  and  go  to  sleep.  They  are 
never  unfastened  from  the  sledge  from  one  end 
of  the  journey  to  the  other.  They  literally  live  in 
the  harness.  While  the  dogs  were  eating,  the 
mongrel  curs  belonging  to  the  encampment  (an 
entirely  different  breed  from  the  sledge-dog) 
stood  around  and  yelped  saucily  at  the  big  intru- 
ders, but  the  sledge-dogs  gave  them  no  notice 
whatever. 

The  dogs  sleep  quietly  all  night  unless  one  of 
them  happens  to  raise  his  nose  and  emit  a  long- 
drawn  howl.  At  this  signal  they  all  join  in  the 
howl  for  about  three  minutes,  stopping  at  the 
same  instant.  If  some  puppy  happens  to  give  an 
additional  yelp,  all  the  others  turn  a  disgusted 
look  at  him  as  if,  indeed,  he  ought  to  display  bet- 
ter manners.  This  howling  concert  generally 
comes  off  two  or  three  times  a  night.  We  do  not 
know  what  causes  it,  but  probably  it  is  some  sub- 
conscious recollection  of  their  ancestral  wolf- 
hood.  The  same  thing  happens  whenever  the 
team  stops  on  the  road.  They  all  sit  and  howl  for 
several  minutes. 


154.  SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE 

On  the  road  the  dogs  are  fed  simply  with  the 
dried  fish  heads  and  backs;  but  at  home  a  more 
elaborate  meal  is  prepared  for  them.  Water  is 
put  into  a  sort  of  trough,  and  then  rotten  fish, 
which  has  been  kept  in  pits,  is  added,  with  a  few 
of  the  dried  fish,  and  the  whole  is  cooked  by 
throwing  in  red-hot  stones.  This  is  fed  to  the 
dogs  only  at  night.  In  the  summer-time  the  dogs 
have  to  forage  for  themselves,  which  they  do  by 
digging  out  tundra-rats.  By  the  time  summer 
is  over  the  dogs  are  so  fat  that  they  have  to  be 
tied  up  and  systematically  starved  till  brought 
into  condition  for  the  sledge  again.  This  period 
is  one  long  concert  of  howls,  but  the  natives  do 
not  seem  to  mind  it.  The  food  of  the  dogs  is  en- 
tirely carnivorous,  for  they  would  rather  live  by 
gnawing  their  own  harness  than  to  eat  bread,  even 
if  the  latter  could  be  supplied.  The  instinct  by 
which  these  animals  foresee  the  coming  of  a  bliz- 
zard is  truly  wonderful.  The  unfailing  sign  of  a 
coming  storm  is  the  pawing  of  the  snow.  For 
what  reason  they  paw  the  snow  will  probably 
never  be  known.  This,  too,  may  be  some  residual 
taint  of  their  original  savage  state. 


CHAPTER  X 

THROUGH  THE  DRIFTS 

Sledging  over  snow  four  feet  deep — Making  a  camp  in  the 
snow — Finding  traces  of  gold — A  grand  slide  down  a 
snow-covered  hill — My  polka  breaks  with  disastrous  re- 
sults— Prospecting  over  the  Stanovoi  range. 

THE  next  morning  we  had  before  us  ten 
miles  of  forest  in  which  the  snow  lay  four 
feet  deep,  and  the  trail  was  unbroken.  This 
meant  serious  work  for  our  teams.  At  the  advice 
of  Chrisoff  sky  I  hired  two  reindeer  narties  to  go 
ahead  and  break  the  trail,  but  they  had  to  keep  a 
mile  in  advance,  out  of  sight  of  our  dogs.  The 
snow  had  been  falling  all  night,  and  when  we 
came  out  in  the  morning,  we  saw  only  a  lot  of 
little  snow  hummocks,  like  baby  graves  in  the 
snow.  ChrisofFsky  cried,  "  Hyuk,  hjaik!"  and 
there  occurred  a  most  surprising  resurrection. 
Every  dog  jumj^ed  clear  of  the  ground  from  his 
warm  bed  and  clamored  to  be  oiF.  I  looked  to  see 
them  fed,  but  nothing  were  they  to  have  till  their 
day's  work  was  done.  When  fed  during  the  day 
they  are  lazy  and  useless,  but  with  the  anticipa- 

155 


156  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

tion  of  salmon  heads  before  them  they  push  on 
heroically.  It  would  be  difficult  to  express  ade- 
quately my  admiration  for  these  animals.  They 
are  patient,  faithful,  and  always  ready  for  work. 

A  mile,  then,  in  the  lead  went  the  reindeer  nar- 
ties  to  break  the  trail;  and  ahead  of  them  were 
two  Tunguse  villagers  on  snow-shoes  to  mark  the 
way  for  the  deer. 

A  mile  in  the  rear  came  the  dogs,  and  heavy 
work  it  was,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  when 
lunch-time  came  we  had  made  only  five  miles. 
When  we  came  up  with  the  Tunguses  they  had 
already  built  a  fire,  and  water  was  boiling.  The 
deer  were  tethered  in  the  bushes  about  two  hun- 
dred yards  away,  out  of  sight  of  the  dogs.  The 
latter  smelled  them,  however,  and  were  making 
desperate  efforts  to  break  out  of  their  harness  and 
give  chase,  but  their  efforts  seemed  futile,  so  we 
paid  no  more  attention  to  them.  As  we  were  busy 
drinking  tea  I  happened  to  look  around,  and  was 
dismayed  to  see  that  the  worst  dog  in  the  pack 
had  broken  loose  and  was  already  near  the  deer, 
who  were  plunging  and  making  desperate  efforts 
to  escape.  When  the  dog  was  almost  at  the 
throat  of  the  nearest  deer  it  broke  its  fastenings 
and  made  off  through  the  snow,  followed  by  the 
rest  of  the  herd.  We  hurried  after  them  on  our 
snow-shoes  at  our  best  speed.  The  deer  could 
easily  outstrip  the  dog  in  the  deep  snow,  but  we 


< 


»-- 

n 
n> 

H 
B 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  159 

wanted  to  stop  the  chase  before  they  were  com- 
pletely frightened  away.  But  we  were  too  late. 
By  the  time  that  we  had  secured  the  dog  the  deer 
were  a  mile  away,  making  straight  for  home,  and 
we  knew  that  nothing  could  stop  them  till  they 
found  themselves  in  their  own  village. 

Thus  it  came  about  that  we  had  to  break  our 
own  trail  for  the  balance  of  the  way  through  the 
woods.  This  proved  to  be  extremely  difficult. 
Every  man  had  to  put  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel, 
or  rather  to  the  sledge,  and  frequently  it  was  ne- 
cessary to  use  several  teams  of  dogs  on  a  single 
sledge,  and  then  return  for  the  other  sledge. 
When  night  came  we  found  that  we  had  covered 
nine  miles,  after  an  exceedingly  hard  day's  work. 
We  were  still  a  mile  from  the  river,  where  we 
were  sure  to  find  a  good  road  on  the  ice. 

We  had  now  to  prepare  for  the  night.  With 
our  snow-shoes  for  shovels  we  cleared  a  space 
twelve  feet  square  right  down  to  the  ground,  and 
built  a  roaring  fire  in  the  center  of  the  cleared 
spot.  The  loaded  sledges  were  placed  on  the 
banks  about  the  sides,  while  the  dogs  lay,  as  usual, 
in  the  snow.  Our  sleeping-bags  were  placed 
about  the  fire  on  piles  of  fir  boughs,  and  after  a 
good  supper  of  reindeer  soup,  bread,  and  tea, 
we  lay  down  and  went  to  sleep.  A  light  snow 
covered  us  with  a  mantle  of  down,  which  ensured 
our  warmth. 


160  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

When  I  awoke  in  the  morning  and  opened  my 
hood,  I  found  two  inches  of  snow  over  me.  That 
day  we  floundered  through  the  remaining  mile  of 
deep  snow  to  the  river.  I  was  pushing  one  of  the 
sledges,  when  we  came  to  the  steep  bank  that 
leads  down  to  the  river.  The  sled  began  to  glide 
down  the  declivity,  settling  deeper  and  deeper. 
Chrisoffsky  called  to  me  to  get  on  quickly,  as 
there  was  open  water  beneath,  but  he  was  too  late. 
I  was  already  in  the  icy  water  up  to  my  knees. 
We  had  unfortunately  struck  a  snow-bridge  over 
open  water.  The  sled  was  fast  in  the  snow,  and 
the  dogs  were  struggling  madly.  By  vigorous 
pulling  and  pushing  we  managed  to  get  the 
sledge  out  on  to  the  ice.  The  other  drivers,  who 
were  behind,  saw  our  predicament  and  went  up- 
stream, prodding  with  their  polkas  until  they 
found  solid  ice  beneath.  Chrisoffsky  immedi- 
ately began  taking  the  lashings  off  the  pack  on 
the  sled  to  get  me  dry  fur  socks  and  boots.  Al- 
most before  I  could  undo  the  lashings,  those  I 
wore  were  frozen  stiff.  The  last  one  was  cut 
away  with  a  knife.  I  applied  a  vigorous  rubbing 
with  snow  to  my  feet  and  they  were  soon  glowing 
with  warmth.  Then  pulling  on  the  warm,  soft 
fur  socks  and  fresh  boots,  I  found  that  I  had 
suffered  no  harm;  but  Chrisoffsky  warned  me 
that  whenever  I  had  wet  feet  I  must  change  im- 
mediately or  serious  consequences  would  result. 


SIBERIA:Nr  KLONDIKE  161 

!A.t  the  time,  the  thermometer  stood  between  ten 
and  fifteen  degrees  below  zero. 

On  examining  the  wind-swept  bars  of  the  creek 
there  seemed  to  be  good  promise  of  gold,  so  mak- 
ing camp  near  timber  I  prepared  for  a  three  or 
four  days'  stay.  The  ground  was  frozen  to  bed- 
rock, and  it  was  necessary  to  thaw  it  out  all  the 
way  down.  The  following  day  I  unloaded  the 
sledges  and  sent  them  into  the  woods  under  the 
direction  of  ChrisoiFsky  to  haul  in  fuel  for  the 
fires.  I  selected  a  likely  spot  and  proceeded  to 
thaw  out  a  shaft.  As  this  was  very  slow  work,  I 
determined  to  try  it  in  several  places  at  the  same 
time.  After  the  fires  had  burned  three  hours  the 
picks  and  shovels  would  be  called  into  play,  and 
we  could  take  out  about  twelve  or  fifteen  inches 
of  gravel.  The  surface  gravel  showed  some  small 
*'  colors  "  in  the  pan,  and  I  determined  to  set 
watches  and  keep  the  fires  going  night  and  day. 
A  windlass  was  rigged  over  one  of  the  shafts,  and 
we  went  down  twenty-five  feet,  till  we  came  to 
boulders  which  showed  that  we  were  near  bed- 
rock. Six  inches  more  brought  us  to  the  end.  I 
eagerly  panned  out  some  of  the  gravel  and  found 
several  tiny  nuggets,  but  was  forced  to  admit  that 
there  was  not  enough  gold  to  pay  for  working. 
The  other  shafts  showed  the  same  results; 
so  we  were  compelled  to  move  on  after  four 
days   of  exhausting   and   fruitless   work.     We 


162  IN   SEARCH   OF  A 

repeated  this  operation  at  several  other  points 
on  the  river,  and  carefully  examined  the 
outcroppings  all  along  the  stream.  Coming 
to  the  head  of  the  river,  we  crossed  over  the 
smnmit  of  the  ridge.  The  aneroid  showed  that 
we  were  seven  thousand  six  hundred  feet  above 
the  sea  level.  When  we  reached  the  top,  we 
found  that  a  long,  smooth  stretch  of  snow  swept 
down  into  the  valley  beyond.  For  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  the  smooth,  hard  surface  was  unbroken  bv 
bush  or  stone.  I  asked  ChrisofFsky  how  it  would 
do  to  slide  down,  but  he  shook  his  head  and  re- 
plied that  it  would  be  dangerous  for  dogs  and 
sledges  alike.  I  had,  however,  conceived  the  fool- 
ish notion  that  it  would  relieve  the  monotony  of 
life  a  little  to  slide  down  that  incline,  and  I  over- 
persuaded  my  driver  to  make  the  attempt.  More- 
over, it  would  save  several  miles  of  travel  over  a 
safer  but  more  circuitous  route.  The  dogs  were 
unhitched.  ChrisofFsky's  two  sons  took  one  of 
the  sledges,  and,  by  sticking  their  heels  into  the 
snow,  slid  about  half  way  down  somewhat  slowly, 
then  they  both  climbed  on  to  the  sledge,  stuck 
their  polkas  into  the  snow  for  brakes, and  "let  her 
go."  They  went  the  remaining  distance  like  an 
arrow,  and  shot  out  into  the  plain  below  trium- 
phantly. They  stopped  and  waved  their  hands  as 
much  as  to  say," See  how  easy  it  is."  ChrisoiFsky 
then  sent  down  one  team  of  dogs,  still  fastened 


p 

<-t- 


n 
B 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  165 

to  the  tug.  This  was  a  mistake,  for  the  leaders 
went  cautiously  and  the  others  crowded  on  them. 
In  an  instant  they  were  one  howling,  wrangling 
ball  of  dog-fur  rolling  down  the  hill.  The  natives 
were  all  shouting  and  cursing  their  liveliest,  but 
I  could  only  hold  my  sides  with  laughter.  I  ut- 
terly refused  to  see  the  serious  side  of  the  adven- 
ture. The  remaining  dogs  were  sent  down  two 
and  two.  ChrisofFsky  and  I,  with  one  sled,  were 
the  last  to  go.  Sitting  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
sledge  with  our  polkas  carefully  adjusted,  we 
slipped  over  the  brink  and  shot  down  the  hill. 
By  some  perverse  chance  my  polka  broke  in  my 
hands,  the  sledge  slewed  around,  and  we  both 
went  head  over  heels.  I  landed  on  my  head  some 
yards  from  the  careening  sledge  and  continued 
my  journey  down  the  hill  in  a  variety  of  attitudes, 
all  of  which  were  exciting,  but  none  very  comfor- 
table. Had  I  not  been  so  heavily  bundled  up  I 
could  not  have  escaped  serious  injury.  Old 
ChrisofFsky  and  the  sledge  were  a  good  second 
in  the  race,  first  one  and  then  the  other  being  on 
top.  They  held  together  bravely.  When  we  all 
rounded  up  at  the  bottom  and  took  an  inventory 
of  damages,  we  found  that  there  were  no  bones 
broken  and  that  no  harm  had  been  done,  except 
to  my  Winchester  rifle,  the  barrel  of  which  was 
sprung. 

And  as  the  days  passed,  I  continued  to  busy 


166  SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE 

myself  examining  the  outcroppings  or  digging  in 
the  creek  beds  for  signs  of  gold,  until  about  the 
middle  of  December,  by  which  time  I  had  gone 
over  that  section  of  the  Stanovoi  range  pretty 
thoroughly  as  far  as  their  southern  slopes  were 
concerned.  And  then  I  essayed  to  pass  over  the 
lofty  range  to  discover  what  was  on  the  other 
side. 


CHAPTER  XI 

BURIED  IN  A  BLIZZARD 

A  trip  to  the  northern  side  of  the  Stanovoi  range  of  moun- 
tains— Nijni  Kolymsk,  the  most- feared  convict  station — 
Sledging  by  light  of  the  aurora — Lost  in  a  blizzard  on 
the  vast  tundra — Five  days  in  a  snow  dugout — I  earn 
a  reputation  as  a  wizard — Back  at  ChrisoflPsky's. 

IN  order  to  reach  the  northern  side  of  the 
Stanovoi  range  of  mountains  it  was  neces- 
sary to  make  use  of  one  of  the  few  passes  that  are 
to  be  found.  At  an  elevation  of  nine  thousand 
feet,  we  succeeded  in  accomplishing  the  passage, 
and  found  ourselves  on  the  head  waters  of  the 
Kolyma  River.  The  name  as  given  in  that  lo- 
cality was  more  like  Killamoo  than  Kolyma. 
Due  north,  far  across  the  wastes  of  snow,  was  the 
town  of  Nijni  Kolymsk,  the  spot  most  dreaded 
by  Siberian  convicts.  This  station  is  used  only 
for  the  most  dangerous  political  prisoners. 
About  their  only  occupation  is  to  gather  hay  and 
pick  berries  in  summer.  Provisions  are  carried  to 
them  in  the  summer  by  a  man-of-war.  None  but 
Russians  in  authority  are  ever  allowed  near  the 
place.  The  natives  could  give  me  very  little  defi- 
le? 


168  IN  SEARCH   OF  A 

nite  information  about  it.  They  had  strict  orders 
from  the  magistrate  in  Ghijiga  not  to  approach 
this  convict  station. 

We  swung  to  the  northeast  and  east,  which 
course  would  bring  us  back  to  Ghijiga.  Wher- 
ever it  was  possible  we  examined  the  float  rock 
and  sunk  shafts  to  determine  whether  any  of  the 
precious  metal  was  hidden  away  in  the  mountains 
or  beneath  the  waters  of  the  streams.  As  we  came 
back  over  the  mountains  our  course  lay  over  the 
head  waters  of  the  Paran  River,  which  runs 
southeasterly  and  enters  the  Okhotsk  Sea.  We 
passed  over  the  divide  between  this  and  the  Ghi- 
jiga, and  tried  to  steer  a  straight  course  for 
ChrisofFsky's  house.  Here  we  came  to  a  stretch 
of  tundra  two  hundred  miles  wide.  The  snow 
was  hard  and  the  going  verj^  good.  We  struck 
the  trail  of  a  number  of  "dog"  Koraks  who 
were,  evidently,  bringing  in  their  furs.  The 
tundra  was  as  level  as  a  floor,  and  the  driving  was 
so  easy  that  it  was  possible  to  sit  and  doze  while 
the  dogs  sped  over  the  white  expanse. 

As  it  was  now  December  the  nights  were  made 
bright  by  the  light  of  the  aurora,  while  at  noon 
the  sun  just  shone,  a  red  disk,  above  the  southern 
horizon.  This  is  the  month  noted  in  that  region 
for  its  severe  storms.  The  days  were  mostly  over- 
cast. The  second  morning  after  we  had  started 
out  across  the  tundra  a  light  flurry  of  snow  blew 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  169 

up.  ChrisofFsky  shook  his  head  and  said  it  was 
going  to  storm.  We  were  just  half  way  across 
the  bare  tundra,  the  worst  place  possible  in  which 
to  try  to  weather  one  of  these  storms,  because  of 
the  utter  lack  of  fire- wood.  ChrisofFsky  called 
back  to  me  that  he  was  looking  for  a  porgo, 
which,  in  his  dialect,  means  a  blizzard.  About 
noon  the  storm  struck  us  with  full  force.  I  was 
continually  standing  up  in  the  sledge  to  catch  a 
sight,  if  possible,  of  some  trailing  pine  where  we 
could  make  an  excavation  and  find  fire-wood ;  but 
it  was  all  in  vain.  At  last  the  dogs  lost  sight  of 
the  trail  and  could  follow  it  only  by  the  sense  of 
smell.  When  the  snow  came  down  so  heavily  that 
we  could  hardly  see  our  leading  dogs,  we  halted 
to  let  the  others  catch  up  with  us.  With  our 
snow-shoes  we  dug  down  six  feet  to  the  ground, 
making  an  excavation  that  was,  roughly,  eight 
feet  square.  Placing  the  three  sledges  around 
the  edge  of  the  hole,  we  banked  them  in 
with  snow.  Then  we  took  a  tarpaulin  from 
one  of  the  sledges  and  with  walrus -hide  rope 
improvised  a  sort  of  roof  over  our  dug-out. 
The  dogs,  after  washing  themselves,  dug  holes 
in  the  snow  and  settled  down  comfortably 
to  sleep.  They  were  almost  immediately  covered 
with  snow.  At  this  time  the  thermometer  stood 
thirty-five  below  zero.  We  could  not  tell  whether 
it  was  actually  snowing  or  whether  the  snow  was 


170  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

only  being  driven  by  the  wind,  but  at  any  rate, 
the  air  was  filled  with  it  and  the  prospect  was 
anything  but  exhilarating.  We  lined  the  bottom 
of  the  hole  with  furs,  got  out  our  sleeping-bags, 
and  prepared  for  a  long  siege. 

As  we  were  without  fuel,  we  had  to  eat  cold 
food.  Frozen  reindeer  meat  taken  raw  is  not  an 
appetizing  dish,  but  this,  together  with  hard  bread 
and  pounded  soup-ball,  formed  our  diet  for  the 
next  few  days.  As  we  had  but  few  fish  left,  the 
dogs  were  put  on  short  allowance.  In  this  snowy 
prison  we  were  held  for  four  mortal  days,  and 
were  obliged  to  climb  out  every  three  or  four 
hours  and  relieve  the  tarpaulin  of  the  weight  of 
snow.  Our  furs  were  damp,  caused  by  our 
breath,  which  congealed  and  thawed  again  from 
the  warmth  of  the  body;  to  say  the  very  least  of 
it,  we  were  extremely  uncomfortable.  At  last  it 
got  so  bad  that  I  gave  orders  to  burn  one  of  the 
sledges,  and  that  day  we  feasted  on  hot  tea.  Our 
deer  meat  was  all  gone,  so  we  stopped  feeding  the 
dogs,  and  appropriated  the  remaining  fish  to  our 
own  use.  The  result  was  that  the  dogs  began 
gnawing  their  harness,  and  had  to  be  chained  up 
with  dog-chains  which  we  carried  for  the  purpose. 
The  time  spent  in  ojr  snow  retreat  was  not  en- 
tirely lost.  To  while  away  the  tedious  hours  I 
gave  my  arctic  friends  some  lessons  in  astronomy, 
using  snowballs  as  object-lessons.    It  was  not  an 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  171 

ideal  observatory,  but  there  was  at  least  snow 
enough  to  have  represented  all  the  heavenly 
bodies,  down  to  fixed  stars  of  the  fourteenth 
magnitude.  It  all  began  by  their  asking  how 
God  made  the  aurora.  On  the  side  of  our  exca- 
vation I  made  a  rough  bas-relief  of  the  great  ma- 
sonic temple  in  Chicago.  They  looked  at  it  very 
politely,  but  I  could  see  that  they  took  me  for 
the  past  master  of  lying.  I  told  them  all  about 
elections,  telephones,  phonographs,  and  rail- 
roads, and  gathered  from  their  expression  that 
ihey  thought  I  had  gone  mad  from  the  cold  and 
exposure.  They  looked  at  one  another  and  mut- 
tered, "  Duroc,  duroc,"  which  is  Russian  for 
crazy. 

I  also  amused  myself  at  their  expense  by  the 
use  of  a  compass  and  a  little  pocket  magnet ;  the 
latter  I  palmed  and  with  it  made  the  magnetic 
needle  play  all  sorts  of  antics.  They  asked  what 
made  the  needle  move  about  continually,  and  I 
replied  that  it  would  point  to  any  place  that  I 
might  designate,  by  simply  requesting  it  to  do 
so.  ChrisoiFsky,  the  skeptical,  thought  he  had 
caught  me,  for  he  immediately  asked  me  to  make 
it  point  toward  Ghijiga.  Now  I  happened  to 
know  about  where  Ghijiga  lay,  for  just  before 
the  storm  came  on  I  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  a 
mountain  near  that  town.  So  I  put  the  compass 
in  my  lap,  palmed  the  magnet,  and  began  mut- 


172  IN   SEARCH   OF  A 

tering  and  waving  my  hand  over  the  compass. 
At  the  same  time  I  repeated,  in  sepulchral  tones, 
t,hf>  mflcrio  fnrmiila* 


the  magic  formula: 


Ere  eirie  ickery  Ann, 
Fillisy  follisy  Nicholas  John, 
Queevy  quavy  English  navy, 
Stickelum  stackelum  Johniko  buck! 

The  hand  with  the  magnet  was  now  in  the  proper 
position,  and  the  needle  pointed  steadily  toward 
Ghijiga.  Old  ChrisofFsky  sat  with  amazement 
and  fear  pictured  all  over  his  face.  He  glanced 
over  his  shoulder  as  if  looking  for  some  place  to 
rmi,  and  exclaimed  in  a  deep  and  piteous  tone, 
"  Dia  Bog!  "  which  means,  "  O  Lord." 

After  a  long  silence  he  asked  me  if  the  com- 
pass would  answer  his  questions  as  well.  I  said  I 
did  not  know,  but  that  he  might  try  it  and  see. 
Concentrating  his  whole  attention  upon  the  com- 
pass, he  bent  over  it  and  tried  to  imitate  my  mo- 
tions, and  asked  the  instrument  to  tell  him  the 
direction  in  which  his  house  lay.  Of  course  the 
needle,  which,  meanwhile,  I  had  been  causing  to 
swing  about  in  all  directions,  now  came  to  a  stand- 
still due  north,  directly  away  from  his  house. 
He  looked  puzzled  and  said  it  must  be  because  he 
did  not  understand  the  wizard  formula,  and  I 
promised  to  teach  it  to  him  at  some  future  time. 

I   also  performed  some  other  simple  tricks. 


o 


n 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  175 

which  actually  frightened  him  so  that  for  a  time 
he  went  out  and  sat  in  the  snow  all  alone.  I  found 
later  that  my  reputation  as  a  wizard  spread 
through  that  whole  district,  and  time  and  time 
again  I  had  to  go  over  these  old  tricks  before  ad- 
miring audiences. 

During  the  night  of  the  fifth  day  the  storm 
passed  and  the  stars  came  out  once  more.  Our 
bedraggled  party  crawled  forth  from  our  prison, 
and  harnessed  up  the  weak,  but  wilHng,  dogs, 
who  seemed  to  know  that  we  were  not  far  from 
home ;  for  they  tugged  at  their  collars  gladly,  and 
we  were  soon  gliding  over  the  snow. 

Ten  miles  from  ChrisofFsky's  house  we  came 
down  upon  the  wind-swept  ice  of  the  Chorny 
Raichka,  a  tributary  of  the  Ghijiga.  From  this 
point  the  going  was  ideal.  We  had  timber  on 
both  sides,  but  we  did  not  stop  to  build  a  fire. 
The  dogs  were  very  weak,  yet  they  displayed 
wonderful  mettle,  knowing  they  were  near  home. 
They  went  so  fast  that  the  sledges  were  continu- 
ally slewing  about  on  the  smooth  ice  in  imminent 
danger  of  capsizing;  but  they  were  steadied  by 
a  clever  use  of  the  polka. 

While  still  a  mile  from  ChrisofFsky's,  we  saw 
women  and  children  running  out  to  meet  us.  Be- 
cause of  the  storm  and  the  fact  that  we  were  two 
weeks  overdue,  we  knew  that  there  would  be  anx- 
ious mothers  and  wives  in  the  little  village.    We 


176  SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE 

came  in  with  a  flourish,  a  score  of  children  hang- 
ing on  the  sides  of  the  sledges.  We  encountered 
a  terrific  storm  of  kisses,  which  I  evaded  as  best  I 
could.  Willing  hands  unhitched  the  faithful 
dogs,  and  then  we  all  went  into  the  house.  The 
village  was  warned  of  our  approach  while  still 
far  away,  because  each  dog  carried  a  little  sleigh- 
bell  on  his  back.  The  people  had  heard  the  tin- 
kling of  the  bells  sometime  before  we  had  come 
in  sight. 

To  say  that  we  fed  off  the  fat  of  the  land  is 
literally  true.  Seal  fat,  deer  fat,  marrow  fat, 
blubber  galore  with  cranberries,  and  tea  by  the 
gallon.  For  once  I  gladly  exchanged  snow  for 
vermin.  Perhaps  the  greatest  comfort  was  the 
opportunity  to  wash  my  face  and  hands,  which  I 
had  not  been  able  to  do  for  seven  days. 


CHAPTER  XII 

CHRISTMAS— THE   "  DEER  KORAKS  " 

I  celebrate  Christmas  day  with  the  over-kind  assistance  of 
two  hundred  natives — Koraks  as  sharp-shooters — Comic 
features  of  a  Russian  dance — Off  for  Kaminaw — Another 
runaway — Slaughtering  deer — A  curious  provision  of 
nature — Eight  families  in  one  yourta — Korak  method  of 
washing  dishes — A  herd  of  ten  thousand  deer. 

WHEN  I  reached  town  the  Russians  desired 
to  know  what  I  had  accomplished,  and  I 
was  obliged  to  tell  them  that  I  had  discovered  no 
considerable  deposits  of  gold  on  the  head  waters 
of  the  Ghijiga. 

Some  time  before  this  I  had  caused  it  to  be- 
come known  that  I  would  pay  liberally  in  tea  or 
other  commodities  for  bags  of  rock  picked  up  in 
the  beds  of  streams  and  delivered  in  Ghijiga.  I 
now  found  upward  of  a  ton  of  such  specimens 
awaiting  my  inspection.  This  was  my  informa- 
tion bureau.  I  had  found  the  natives  trust- 
worthy, and  I  knew  they  would  not  pick  up 
specimens  near  by  and  claim  they  had  been 
brought  from  a  distance.  Some  that  I  thus  ex- 
amined had  been  brought  seven  hundred  miles. 

177 


178  IN   SEARCH   OF  A 

By  a  careful  examination  and  classification  of 
these  specimens  I  was  able  to  determine  the  va- 
rious geological  formations  of  the  district,  and 
the  next  three  weeks  were  spent  in  this  important 
work.  I  wanted  to  be  off  again  promptly,  but 
as  Christmas  was  at  hand,  it  was  impossible  to 
secure  dog-teams;  so  I  was  obliged  to  rest. 

As  I  sat  in  my  cabin  on  Christmas  eve,  think- 
ing over  old  times,  and  feeling,  perhaps,  a  trifle 
blue,  I  determined  to  usher  in  the  great  day  with 
some  eclat.  So  I  loaded  up  every  firearm  that  I 
had,  and  when  midnight  came  I  stepped  outside 
and  "  let  loose  "  with  revolvers,  rifles,  and  shot- 
guns. The  first  effect  was  to  wake  up  four  hun- 
dred dogs,  who  responded  with  howls  and  barks, 
which  they  kept  up  till  morning.  At  seven 
o'clock,  my  Russian  friends  came  flocking  over  to 
find  out  what  I  was  celebrating.  I  told  them  that 
it  was  our  Christmas  day.  Their  Christmas 
comes  twelve  days  later  than  ours.  When  they 
found  out  the  cause  of  my  exhilaration  they 
slipped  away,  but  within  three  hours  the  women 
and  children  began  to  appear,  each  loaded  with  a 
steaming  dish.  There  were  meats,  fowls,  ber- 
ries, pasties,  fish,  blubber,  stuffed  ptarmigan, 
deer  tongues,  and  other  things — enough  to  feed 
a  hundred  men.  When  the  table  was  so  full  that 
it  could  hold  no  more,  they  put  the  dishes  on  the 
floor.    I  knew  well  that  they  had  brought  much 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  179 

more  than  I  could  handle,  and  I  was  somewhat 
embarrassed  by  their  excessive  generosity.  But 
my  fears  were  ill-founded,  for  soon  the  whole 
village  began  to  arrive.  The  priests  and  magis- 
trates came  first,  and  then  the  rest  in  descending 
scale,  and  by  the  time  they  were  done,  all  the 
good  things  that  they  had  brought  had  been  con- 
sumed, as  well  as  all  that  I  could  obtain  from 
Mrs.  Braggin.  Two  hundred  were  fed,  and  by 
night  I  was  entirely  cleaned  out — cupboard, 
shelf,  and  cellar.  What  the  small  children  could 
not  eat  they  put  in  their  pockets.  The  Russian 
storekeepers  sent  me  a  bag  of  coppers,  telling  me 
that  it  was  the  custom  to  give  each  child  a  coin  on 
such  occasions.  When  I  went  to  bed  at  night,  I 
determined  that  I  would  never  again  disturb  the 
peace  of  Christmas  night  with  firearms. 

On  New  Year's  eve,  fearing  that  the  cere- 
mony might  be  repeated,  I  stole  away  on  my 
snow-shoes  and  spent  the  day  hunting  ptarmi- 
gan. I  had  good  luck,  and  bagged  all  I  could 
carry.  These  beautiful  little  birds  are  about  the 
size  of  a  pigeon,  but  of  heavier  build.  In  sum- 
mer their  color  is  brown,  but  in  winter  it  is  pure 
white,  and  they  sit  motionless  in  the  snow,  so  that 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  discover  them.  The  na- 
tive boys  kill  them  with  bows  and  arrows.  Al- 
most all  the  natives  of  the  far  north  are  good 
shots,  being  trained  to  it  from  boyhood.     In 


180  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

order  to  catch  ermine  and  belk  (arctic  squirrel) 
they  must  be  marksmen  of  the  first  order;  for 
these  animals  are  small,  and  must  be  shot  in  the 
head,  or  the  skin  is  worthless.  For  this  pm-pose, 
twenty-two  caliber  rifles  of  German  manufac- 
ture are  used.  They  are  muzzle-loader$,  and  can 
be  purchased  in  Vladivostok  for  four  roubles. 
The  natives  rig  them  up  with  a  forked  rest,  and 
an  ermine  at  seventy-five  yards  stands  no  chance 
of  escape. 

About  twenty  years  ago  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment sent  a  company  of  expert  Cossack  rifle- 
men into  this  north  country  to  teach  the  natives 
how  to  shoot.  These  instructors  never  got  fur- 
ther than  Ghijiga,  though  it  had  been  the  plan 
to  distribute  them  throughout  the  district.  Tar- 
gets were  set  up,  and  the  Cossacks  did  some 
fancy  shooting.  The  natives  looked  on  stolidly, 
and  when  asked  to  shoot,  declined  to  do  so,  but 
called  up  some  of  their  boys,  who  easily  worsted 
the  Cossacks  at  their  own  game. 

The  natives  were  always  curious  about  my 
Colts  forty-five  caliber  six-shooters,  as  this 
weapon  is  not  known  in  that  section.  In  my 
younger  days,  I  had  seen  something  of  Arizona 
and  Texas  life,  and  thought  I  was  a  pretty  fair 
shot.  One  day  a  native  with  whom  I  was  stop- 
ping asked  me  to  let  him  have  a  shot  with  my  re- 
volver.   I  tore  a  small  piece  of  paper  from  my 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  181 

note-book  and  pinned  it  on  a  tree  about  twenty- 
yards  distant.  I  shot  iirst,  and  came  within  an 
inch  or  so  of  the  paper — a  fairly  good  shot ;  but 
the  old  Korak  took  the  weapon,  and,  bringing  it 
slowly  into  position,  let  drive,  and  hit  the  paper. 
I  could  detect  no  look  of  exultation  on  his  face, 
nor  on  that  of  any  spectator.  They  took  it  as  a 
matter  of  course  that  their  tribesman  should  out- 
shoot  me  with  my  own  weapon,  the  very  first 
time  he  ever  had  one  like  it  in  his  hand.  I  have 
never  tried  to  shoot  against  a  Korak  since  then. 
My  only  consolation  was  that  it  might  have  been 
an  accident,  for  he  refused  to  shoot  again,  al- 
though I  pressed  him  to  do  so.  For  hunting 
large  game,  they  use  a  forty-four  caliber  Win- 
chester, or  a  forty-five  caliber  German  muzzle- 
loader. 

The  feasting  at  the  Russian  Christmas-tide 
lasts  fully  three  days.  In  the  morning  the  entire 
population  attends  church,  after  which,  appar- 
ently, a  contest  ensues  as  to  who  shall  get  drunk 
first;  and  the  priest  generally  wins.  They  hitch 
up  their  dog-teams,  and  go  from  house  to  house, 
feasting  and  drinking.  Etiquette  demands  that 
a  man  use  his  team,  even  if  calling  at  a  house  ten 
rods  away.  The  women  troop  about  in  gay 
dresses  of  calico,  with  bright  silk  handkerchiefs 
over  their  heads,  and  the  men  in  their  best  furs, 
embroidered  with  silk.    One  of  the  most  distinc- 


182  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

tive  features  of  a  Christmas  celebration  is  that 
each  person  takes  a  full  bath  with  soap,  before 
the  great  day  is  ushered  in.  At  the  same  time, 
the  hair  is  combed  and  done  up  afresh.  The 
transformation  is  so  great  that  it  is  often  hard 
even  for  bosom  friends  to  recognize  one  another. 
All  day  long  bands  of  boys  go  about  singing 
carols.  They  enter  one's  home,  and  bow  before 
the  icon,  and  sing  their  songs,  after  which  it  is 
the  proper  thing  to  give  each  of  them  a  coin  or 
something  to  eat.  In  the  evening,  young  men 
repeat  the  same  performance,  except  that  they 
bring  large  illuminated  wheels,  which  they  whirl 
before  the  icon  as  they  sing  the  Christmas 
hymns.  They  receive  about  half  a  rouble  apiece 
for  this  service. 

The  next  day  I  started  in  to  return  their  calls. 
It  is  an  insult  not  to  taste  every  dish  on  the  table 
of  your  host,  and  the  result  was  that  I  soon 
reached  my  utmost  capacity.  In  the  evening,  I 
dined  with  Mrs.  Braggin,  and  afterward  the 
room  was  cleared,  and  the  whole  village  came  in 
for  a  dance.  For  music,  we  had  a  piano,  an  ac- 
cordion, and  a  violin;  the  last  was  played  by  an 
old  Russian,  who  knew  sixteen  bars  of  a  single 
tune,  and  repeated  it  over  and  over,  ad  nauseam. 
In  this  primitive  fashion,  we  made  merry  till  the 
morning.  The  dance  was  a  curious  kind  of 
quadrille,  in  which  the  men  did  almost  all  the 


re 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  185 

dancing.  The  ladies  stood  at  the  corners,  and 
the  men  in  the  center.  The  men  danced  very  en- 
ergetically, with  many  steps  that  resemble  the 
"  bucking  "  and  "  winging  "  of  the  negro  in  the 
United  States.  At  the  same  time,  they  shouted 
at  the  top  of  their  voices.  As  for  the  women, 
they  merely  moved  forward  and  back,  with  little 
mincing  steps,  and  then  turned  around  in  their 
places.  All  this  time  the  samovar  was  going  full 
blast,  and  every  one  was  streaming  with  perspi- 
ration. 

About  midnight,  the  fun  grew  fast  and  furi- 
ous, and  every  one  started  in  to  kiss  and  hug  his 
neighbor;  for  by  this  time,  more  than  half  were 
intoxicated.  The  worst  feature  of  such  a  Rus- 
sian festive  occasion  is,  that  every  one  grows 
fearfully  affectionate  as  he  begins  to  feel  the 
effect  of  the  liquor. 

When  the  Christmas  festivities  were  over,  I 
made  preparations  to  carry  out  a  more  extensive 
plan  of  exploration.  It  was  my  purpose  to  ex- 
amine the  valleys  of  the  rivers  running  from  the 
Stanovoi  range  of  mountains  into  Bering  Sea; 
the  beaches  along  the  shore  of  that  sea,  and  then 
to  turn  south  to  Baron  Koff  Bay,  on  the  eastern 
coast  of  Kamchatka,  where  sulphur  deposits 
were  said  to  have  been  found;  then  across  the 
neck  of  the  Kamchatka  Peninsula  to  Cape  ISIe- 
maitch,  and  around  the  head  of  the  Okhotsk  Sea 


186  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

to  Ghijiga,  my  starting-point.  This  trip  was  in 
the  form  of  a  rough  circle,  and  the  total  distance, 
including  excursions,  proved  to  be  upward  of 
twenty-five  hundred  miles.  This  distance  I  had 
to  cover  between  January  15  and  May  15, 
when  the  road  would  no  longer  be  passable  for 
sledges. 

My  first  work  was  to  select  and  buy  the  best 
sledge-dogs  to  be  found  in  the  town.  By  this 
time,  I  had  become  fairly  adept  at  driving  a  dog- 
team.  Old  ChrisoiFsky  did  not  care  to  under- 
take such  a  long  trip,  and  so  I  selected  as  my 
head  driver  a  half-caste  named  Metrofon 
Snevaydoff.  Two  villagers  also  contracted  to 
go  as  far  as  the  village  of  Kaminaw,  which  lies 
three  hundred  miles  to  the  northeast  of  Ghijiga. 
They  would  not  go  further,  because  the  country 
beyond  this  was  unknown  to  them.  But  the 
magistrate  gave  me  a  letter  to  two  Cossacks  sta- 
tioned at  Kaminaw,  requesting  them  to  furnish 
native  dog-teams  to  take  me  on  east  from  that 
point.  I  took  but  little  dog-food,  as  the  terri- 
tory through  which  I  was  going  abounds  in  rein- 
deer, and  we  could  get  all  the  meat  we  needed. 
Provisions  were  beginning  to  run  low  in  Ghi- 
jiga, and  all  I  could  buy  was  tea,  sugar,  tobacco, 
and  a  little  dried  fruit. 

It  was  the  middle  of  January  when  we  started 
out,  all  in  good  health  and  spirits.     The  ther- 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  187 

mometer  stood  at  forty-six  below  zero.  The 
dogs  were  fat,  and  their  feet  were  in  good  condi- 
tion. We  whirled  out  of  the  village  at  break- 
neck speed,  followed  by  friendly  cries  of  "  Dai 
Bog  chust  leewee  budet!  "  ("  God  give  you  good 
luck!") 

I  had  all  I  could  do  to  manage  my  team.  The 
road  was  worn  perfectly  smooth,  and  the  sledge 
would  slew  about  from  side  to  side  in  constant 
danger  of  striking  some  obstruction  and  going 
over.  I  had  to  pull  off  my  koklanka  and  work 
in  my  sweater,  and  yet  even  in  that  biting  air 
the  exercise  kept  me  quite  warm.  In  two  hours 
the  dogs  settled  down  to  a  steady  six-mile  gait, 
and,  leaving  old  ChrisofFsky's  house  on  the  left, 
I  laid  a  direct  course  over  the  tundra  for  the 
mountains  now  visible  far  to  the  northeast.  By 
five  o'clock,  we  saw  signs  of  deer,  which  showed 
us  that  we  were  nearing  the  encampment  that 
was  to  be  our  lodging-place  for  the  night. 
JMounting  a  rise  of  land,  we  beheld,  scattered 
over  the  face  of  the  landscape,  thousands  of  rein- 
deer which  belonged  to  the  denizens  of  half  a 
dozen  skin  yourtas,  sheltered  from  the  wind  in 
the  valley  below. 

SnevaydofF's  team,  which  was  in  the  lead, 
caught  the  scent  of  the  deer,  and  dashed  down 
the  hill,  and  I  after  him,  though  I  jammed  my 
polka  down  and  braked  with  all  my  might.     It 


188  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

had  no  effect  on  my  speed,  and  I  saw  that  I  was 
simply  being  run  away  with.  On  the  left,  near  a 
yourta,  a  bunch  of  deer  were  standing,  and,  in 
spite  of  all  my  efforts,  my  dogs  left  the  road  and 
bolted  straight  for  them.  The  deer  bounded 
away  in  mad  flight.  Snevaydoff  had  already 
turned  his  sledge  over  and  brought  his  team  to 
a  halt,  but  I  was  enjoying  a  new  sensation.  I 
pulled  out  my  polka  and  "  let  her  slide,"  liter- 
ally. I  was  minded  to  save  the  Koraks  the 
trouble  of  slaughtering  a  few  of  their  deer  by 
doing  it  myself.  Just  as  "  Old  Red  "  got  a  good 
mouthful  of  hair,  our  flight  suddenly  came  to  an 
end  with  the  sledge  turning  upside  down.  The 
natives  hurried  up  and  caught  the  dogs,  and, 
bringing  them  down  to  the  yourtas,  fastened 
them  securely. 

I  have  coursed  antelope  in  Texas,  and  in  Ari- 
zona have  picked  wild  turkeys  from  the  ground 
while  on  horseback,  but  for  good  exhilarating 
sport  give  me  fourteen  wild  sledge-dogs,  the 
open  tundra,  and  a  bunch  of  deer  ahead. 

I  found,  to  my  surprise  and  pleasure,  that  the 
old  Korak  in  charge  of  the  village  was  the  one 
who  had  helped  me  the  summer  before  when  I 
was  trying  to  find  m}^  way  back  to  Ghijiga.  I 
was  now  better  able  to  talk  with  him  than  I  had 
been  at  that  time,  especially  as  I  had  Snevaydoff 
for  interpreter.    After  tea,  I  went  outside  to  see 


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SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  191 

how  things  were  getting  on.  Four  men  were  out 
among  the  herd,  lassoing  those  intended  for 
slaughter.  They  did  it  much  after  the  fashion 
of  cow-boys  at  home.  Having  secured  an  ani- 
mal, two  men  held  it  while  a  third  drew  out  a 
long,  keen  knife  and  plunged  it  into  the  animal's 
heart.  The  poor  beast  would  give  one  or  two 
wild  leaps,  and  then  fall  dead.  The  Koraks  do 
not  bleed  their  animals  when  they  butcher  them. 
This  scene  was  enacted  three  times,  each  deer 
being  intended  as  food  for  a  single  team  of  dogs. 
It  took  place  in  plain  sight  of  the  dogs,  who 
leaped  in  their  collars,  and  yelled  applause  at 
every  stroke  of  the  knife. 

The  men's  work  ended  with  killing  the  deer, 
and  the  women  and  children  followed,  the 
former  with  sharp  knives,  and  the  latter  with 
bowls.  It  was  their  part  of  the  work  to  skin  and 
cut  up  the  dead  deer.  With  a  deft  stroke,  they 
ripped  up  the  belly  and  drew  out  the  entrails, 
being  very  careful  to  leave  all  the  coagulated 
blood  in  the  abdominal  cavity.  When  the  viscera 
had  all  been  removed,  the  carcass  was  tipped  up, 
and  the  blood  was  caught  in  the  bowls,  and  car- 
ried to  the  dogs.  The  tongue  and  the  leg-bones 
were  removed  and  laid  aside  for  home  use,  and 
all  the  rest  of  the  carcass  went  to  the  dogs. 

As  the  women  were  skinning  the  deer,  I  no- 
ticed that  every  few  moments  they  would  lean 


192  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

down  and  tear  off,  with  their  teeth,  little  round 
protuberances  which  grew  on  the  under  side  of 
the  skin.  These  were  an  inch  long  by  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  thick,  and  were  bedded  in  the  skin,  and 
surrounded  with  fat.  They  proved  to  be  hots, 
formed  by  a  fly  that  is  the  special  torment  of  the 
deer  in  summer.  On  one  skin  I  counted  more 
than  four  hundred  of  them.  A  little  child  came 
up  and  offered  me  a  handful.  I  found  that 
they  are  considered  a  delicacy  by  the  natives. 
The  flies  deposit  minute  eggs  in  the  skin  in  mid- 
summer, and  the  larva  lies  under  the  skin,  im- 
bedded in  fat.  The  following  spring  the  deer 
is  tormented  with  itching,  and  rubs  against  any- 
thing it  can  find,  and  so  liberates  the  larva,  which 
comes  forth  in  the  shape  of  a  fly,  an  inch  in 
length,  only  to  repeat  the  same  operation.  It  is 
a  marvelous  provision  of  nature  that  teaches  the 
fly  to  seek  the  only  place  where  its  larvae  can  be 
kept  warm  and  safe  during  the  terrible  cold  of 
winter. 

When  the  last  deer  had  been  skinned,  the  men 
brought  axes  and  chopped  the  carcasses  into 
equal  portions,  each  dog  receiving  a  good  ten 
pounds.  When  I  went  back  to  the  yourta  I  left 
them  snarling  and  growling  over  their  meal,  like 
so  many  wolves. 

The  yourtas  of  these  natives  are  covered  with 
deerhides.    The  hair  is  cut  down  to  a  quarter  of 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  193 

an  inch  in  length,  and  is  put  on  the  outside.  The 
construction  of  the  frame-work  of  the  yourta  is 
very  ingenious,  and  is  the  result  of  centuries  of 
experimenting.  They  require  no  guy-ropes  to 
keep  them  erect,  but  the  frame-work  of  poles  is 
so  constructed  and  so  braced  on  the  inside  that 
they  resist  the  most  violent  wind.  After  the 
poles  are  lashed  in  place  by  the  women  the  deer- 
hides  are  fastened  over  them  separately,  not 
sewed  together;  for  this  would  make  it  difficult 
to  move  readily.  At  the  top  there  is,  of  course, 
the  usual  exit  for  the  smoke. 

The  yourta  that  I  entered  was  about  thirty- 
five  feet  in  diameter  and  fourteen  feet  high,  and 
divided,  by  means  of  skin  curtains,  into  eight  lit- 
tle booths  or  apartments,  each  of  which  could  be 
entirely  closed,  to  secure  privacy.  These  little 
booths  are  arranged  around  the  side  of  the 
yourta,  and  each  one  is  occupied  by  an  entire 
family.  The  booths  are  eight  feet  long,  five  feet 
high,  and  six  feet  wide,  and  are  heated  only  by 
lamps.  The  great  fire  in  the  center  of  the  yourta 
is  not  primarily  for  heat,  but  for  cooking  pur- 
poses, all  the  families  using  it  in  common.  The 
various  kettles  are  hung  over  the  fire  by  means 
of  wooden  hooks.  The  food  is  either  boiled  or 
eaten  raw.  They  do  not  seem  to  know  the  use 
of  the  frying-pan. 

The  main  door  of  the  yourta  is  formed  by 


194  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

two  flaps  of  deer  skin,  an  inner  and  an  outer 
one,  which  gives  the  effect  of  a  storm-door. 
The  dogs  generally  huddle  between  the  two, 
and  occasionally  one  of  them  sneaks  into 
the  yourta  itself,  only  to  be  promptly  kicked 
out. 

Our  dinner  consisted  of  boiled  deer  ribs,  sticks 
of  frozen  marrow,  and  half -digested  moss,  taken 
from  the  stomach  of  the  deer.  This  last  was 
cooked  in  seal  oil,  and  looked  much  like  spinach. 
I  found  some  difficulty  in  bringing  myself  to  eat 
it,  but  I  craved  vegetable  food  so  keenly  that  at 
last  I  was  able  to  overcome  my  repulsion,  and 
found  it  not  so  bad  after  all.  The  reindeer, 
therefore,  furnishes  the  Korak  with  meat,  cloth- 
ing, shelter,  and  vegetable  food.  The  dinner 
was  served  on  wooden  plates,  and  conveyed  to 
the  mouth  with  fingers,  except  that  for  the 
"  spinach "  they  had  spoons  carved  from  the 
horn  of  the  mountain-sheep.  The  host  persisted 
in  offering  me  the  daintiest  lumps  of  fat  in  his 
fingers ;  and  I  accepted  them.  In  that  far  north- 
ern latitude,  we  all  craved  fat  or  any  kind  of  oil. 
The  women  did  not  eat  with  us.  The  host  and  I 
sat  in  one  of  the  little  booths,  while  the  women 
remained  outside  by  the  fire.  The  children,  how- 
ever, could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  "  peek," 
and  they  lay  on  the  ground,  looking  up  from  be- 
low the  edge  of  the  skin  partitions,  like  a  row  of 


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SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  197 

detached  heads,  with  the  eyes  bhnking  solemnly 
at  me. 

After  we  had  eaten,  I  made  them  all  happy 
by  sending  SnevaydoiF  out  to  the  sledge  for 
some  tea,  and  some  broken  bits  of  sugar.  The 
host  brought  out  the  family  treasures,  the  gaudy 
cups  which  I  have  heretofore  mentioned.  The 
women  licked  the  saucers,  and  wiped  them  with 
moss,  after  which  tea  was  served. 

Strange  is  the  eiFect  of  environment;  a  year 
previous,  no  inducement  could  have  made  me  use 
those  cups  after  seeing  them  cleansed  in  that 
fashion.  Was  I,  after  all,  a  savage,  and  civili- 
zation but  a  thin  veneer?  I  found  myself  at 
times  looking  at  life  from  the  standpoint  of 
these  people.  I  was  thinking,  dreaming,  and 
talking  in  my  sleep  in  my  polyglot  language. 
At  times  I  would  talk  to  myself  in  English,  just 
to  enjoy  the  sound  of  it.  I  had  with  me  no  books, 
except  a  Bible,  which  was  in  my  valise,  but  the 
print  was  too  fine  to  read,  except  with  a  good 
light.  Action  was  my  only  salvation.  Had  I 
been  compelled  to  stay  in  one  place  I  should 
have  feared  for  my  reason. 

After  two  or  three  cups,  every  one  perspired 
freely,  and  off  came  one  garment  after  another, 
until  the  men  were  entirely  naked,  and  the  wo- 
men  were  naked  to  the  waist.  When  we  had  im- 
bibed ten  or  a  dozen  cups,  the  kettle  was  replen- 


198  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

ished  with  hot  water,  and  handed  out  to  those 
in. the  main  part  of  the  yourta.  I  gave  each  one 
a  lump  of  sugar  to  make  him  happy,  and  then, 
leaning  back  among  the  skins,  lighted  my  pipe, 
and  had  a  long  talk  with  my  host,  during  the 
course  of  which  I  elicited  much  curious  informa- 
tion. 

At  bedtime,  two  of  the  smaller  children  were 
put  in  tiny  cradles,  swung  from  the  top  of  the 
yourta.  The  compartment  in  which  I  slept  held 
eight  people  that  night.  The  lamp  was  left 
burning  all  night,  for  the  sake  of  its  warmth.  As 
far  as  I  could  discover,  there  was  an  utter  lack 
of  ventilation. 

When  I  crawled  out  of  that  noisome  hole  the 
next  morning,  I  found  that  the  dogs  were  very 
uneasy;  they  scratched  the  snow  continually 
with  their  hind  feet.  This  was  a  sure  sign  that 
one  of  the  di'eaded  storms — a  porgo — was  com- 
ing. As  I  had  experienced  one  of  them,  I  h^d  no 
wish  to  be  caught  out  in  another,  so  I  determined 
to  wait  where  I  was  till  it  blew  over.  By  ten 
o'clock  it  was  raging,  and  for  three  mortal  days 
there  was  no  stirring  from  that  village.  Just 
before  the  storm  came  on  I  secured  some  photo- 
graphs of  the  reindeer.  They  were  very  tame  in- 
deed, and  would  come  up  to  me  and  smell  of  my 
garments,  and  would  even  hck  them,  hoping  to 
get  some  salt.     I  had  to  carry  a  short  stick  to 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  199 

keep  them  from  pressing  too  close  upon  me.  I 
walked  in  among  the  herd,  which  nmnbered 
about  ten  thousand,  and  watched  them  eat. 
They  would  paw  away  the  snow  until  they 
reached  the  moss,  which  lay  about  ten  inches  be- 
low the  surface,  and  then,  kneeling  down,  would 
dig  it  out  with  their  teeth.  The  moss  is  about 
ten  inches  thick,  and  is  a  loose,  spongy  mass  of 
vegetation.  It  will  not  bear  the  weight  of  a 
man,  the  foot  sinking  through  it.  It  forms  a 
most  excellent  food  for  deer,  but  horses  will  not 
eat  it.  The  Tunguse  deer,  which  is  larger  than 
the  Korak,  eats  only  moss,  but  the  Korak  deer 
will  eat  either  moss  or  grass. 

These  nomads  have  regular  roads  to  and  from 
the  coast,  and  generation  after  generation  they 
follow  the  same  old  beaten  tracks.  In  Decem- 
ber, they  are  farthest  from  the  sea.  Once  in  two, 
three,  or  four  weeks,  according  to  the  supply  of 
moss  and  the  size  of  the  herd,  they  break  camp 
and  move  off  on  the  trail.  Late  in  December 
they  turn,  and  gradually  work  their  way  back, 
so  that  by  the  time  that  June  and  the  mosquitos 
have  arrived  they  are  near  the  sea.  The  deer 
eagerly  lick  the  salt  from  the  rocks,  and  even 
drink  the  sea  water.  They  stay  on  the  coast  until 
late  in  August,  when  the  frosts  kill  off  the  mos- 
quitos, and  then  they  move  off  inland  for  an- 
other winter.     In  summer,  the  deer  grow  very 


200  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

poor  and  weak,  for  they  find  little  moss  near  the 
coast.  All  along  the  shores  of  Bering  Sea  thou- 
sands of  deer  can  be  counted  every  summer.  A 
few  years  ago,  when  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment wished  to  secure  some  reindeer  herds  for 
Alaska,  they  sent  all  the  way  to  Lapland,  and 
imported  the  deer  at  enormous  expense,  took 
them  across  the  American  continent  by  rail,  and 
shipped  them  by  steamer  to  Alaska.  By  the 
time  they  arrived,  those  that  had  not  died 
must  have  cost  an  enormous  sum.  If  the  gov- 
ernment had  sent  a  steamer  a  single  day's  run 
across  Bering  Sea,  it  could  have  purchased  fifty 
thousand  reindeer  right  on  the  coast  at  a  cost  of 
one  rouble,  or  fifty  cents,  apiece.  Coin  cannot 
be  used  in  purchasing  these  animals,  for  the  na- 
tives do  not  understand  nor  use  our  coinage,  but 
they  can  be  obtained  by  barter  at  the  rate  of  one 
rouble's  worth  of  tobacco  a  head.  Some  rich  na- 
tives might  accept  a  few  silver  coins  to  hammer 
up  into  buttons  for  their  children's  clothes,  but 
not  as  a  medium  of  exchange. 

The  rutting  season  is  in  July,  and  fights  be- 
tween the  male  deer  are  not  uncommon.  But 
most  of  the  male  deer  are  gelded,  only  enough 
being  left  for  breeding  purposes.  The  natives 
watch  their  herds  carefully,  both  night  and  day, 
but  without  the  use  of  dogs.  The  principal 
enemy  of  the  deer  is  the  great  gray  Siberian 


n 
n 


1M 


*  . 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  203 

wolf,  which  stands  as  high  as  a  Saint  Bernard 
dog.  One  of  these  wily  fellows  will  dash  into 
a  herd,  "cut  out"  three  or  four  deer,  and  run 
them  off  into  the  wilderness.  When  a  deer 
grows  tired  the  wolf  runs  alongside,  and,  seiz- 
ing it  by  the  nose,  brings  it  to  the  ground  and 
despatches  it. 

The  Koraks  eat  the  hoofs  after  burning  them 
on  the  fire  and  thus  setting  free  the  gelatin. 
The  weapons  used  by  the  Koraks,  and  the  Tun- 
guses  as  well,  are  the  modern  rifles,  or  in  default 
of  these  the  regular  old-fashioned  muzzle-loader. 
They  do  a  little  trapping,  but  only  for  sport. 
The  little  boys  take  out  the  knuckle-bones  from 
wolves'  feet  and  set  them  up  like  ninepins,  and 
pitch  stones  at  them.  Even  the  grown  men 
sometimes  indulge  in  this  sport.  It  is  not  their 
custom  to  use  the  reindeer  under  the  saddle. 
They  do  not  even  carry  a  pack,  as  among  the 
Tunguses.  Even  in  summer  the  Korak  prefers 
to  carry  his  goods  on  a  sledge,  as  many  as 
eight  deer  sometimes  being  required  to  draw  the 
load. 

There  is  one  physical  feature  which  helps  to 
determine  the  geographical  division  between  the 
"  dog  "  people  and  the  "  deer  "  people;  and  this 
is  the  depth  of  the  snowfall.  For  instance,  on 
the  peninsula  of  Kamchatka  there  are  many 
places  where  the  snow  is  so  deep  that  the  deer 

10 


204  SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE 

could  not  dig  down  to  the  moss  in  winter.  All 
through  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  penin- 
sula, however,  where  the  land  is  occupied  mostly 
by  Koraks,  the  snow  is  not  so  deep,  and  the  keep- 
ing of  deer  is  possible. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

HABITS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  KORAKS 

The  hour-glass  houses — Their  curious  construction — The 
natives  prove  to  be  both  hospitable  and  filthy — Dialects 
of  Dog  Koraks  and  Deer  Koraks — Some  unpleasant  hab- 
its—  How  they  reckon  time — Making  liquor  out  of  mush- 
rooms— Curious  marriage  customs — Clothes  of  the  na- 
tives— Queer  notions  of  a  deity — Jealousy  of  the  wan- 
dering Koraks — Thieving  a  virtue  and  childbirth  a  social 
function. 

WHEN  the  storm  was  over,  we  harnessed  the 
dogs  and  continued  our  journey.  Seven 
days  of  ideal  sledging  brought  us  to  Kaminaw, 
a  Korak  village  at  the  extreme  northern  point  of 
the  northeastern  arm  of  the  Okhotsk  Sea,  where 
I  was  to  discharge  my  Russian  dog-teams,  and 
secure  others  from  the  natives.  My  first  view  of 
the  village  was  from  the  summit  of  a  hill  half  a 
mile  away.  I  saw  what  resembled  fifty  huge 
hour-glasses  set  on  the  plain,  which,  on  a  nearer 
approach,  turned  out  to  be  ten  or  twelve  feet 
high.  As  we  drew  near,  the  village  came  swarm- 
ing out  with  a  pack  of  mongrel  curs  at  their  heels ; 
and  over  the  edge  of  each  hour-glass  house  ap- 

205 


206  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

peared  the  heads  of  the  women  and  children,  all 
eager  to  get  a  glimpse  of  such  a  novel  sight  as  a 
foreign  face.  Over  each  house  was  suspended  a 
frozen  dog.  These  were  impaled  under  the  chin 
on  the  shar]D  end  of  a  pole,  and  lifted  high  in  the 
air.  I  learned  later  that  this  was  a  form  of  sacri- 
fice to  the  Fish  God,  and  was  intended  to  insure 
a  good  run  of  fish  the  next  season. 

As  I  tumbled  out  of  my  sledge,  I  was  sur- 
rounded by  the  filthiest  lot  of  natives  I  had  yet 
seen.  Their  furs  were  old  and  mangy,  and  the 
hair  was  worn  off  in  spots.  The  people  were 
kind  and  pleasant,  and  seemed  bent  on  shaking 
hands  with  me.  I  was  pressed  on  all  sides  with 
invitations  to  enter  one  and  another  of  the  curi- 
ous houses.  As  I  stood  there,  debating  what  I 
should  do,  the  chief  of  the  village  elbowed  his 
way  through  the  crowd,  took  me  by  the  hand, 
and  led  me  to  the  largest  of  the  huts.  In  order 
to  enter  we  had  to  go  up  a  ladder  to  the  height 
of  ten  feet  or  more.  This  ladder  was  a  log  of 
driftwood,  split  down  the  center,  and  provided 
with  little  holes  in  which  to  put  the  toes  in  as- 
cending. These  natives  have  very  small  feet, 
and  I  found  the  holes  in  the  ladder  too  small  to 
insert  my  toes,  but  I  managed  to  scramble  to  the 
top.  I  was  now  standing  on  the  edge  of  an  in- 
verted octagonal  cone,  made  of  logs  lashed  to- 
gether, the  inside  or  crater  of  the  affair,  which 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  209 

was  eighteen  feet  across,  sloping  down  at  an 
angle  of  about  fifteen  degrees  to  the  center.  At 
that  point  there  was  a  hole  leading  down  to  the 
interior  of  the  house.  The  hole  also  sufficed  for 
a  chimney,  and  to  enter  the  house  one  had  to  go 
down  a  ladder  through  the  smoke.  Santa  Claus 
is  said  to  come  from  the  north,  and  it  is  evidently 
among  this  people  that  he  originated,  for  here 
everybody  enters  his  house  by  way  of  the 
chimney. 

This  flaring  line  of  logs  protects  the  opening 
of  the  house  from  being  covered  up  with  drifting 
snow.  This  is  the  main  reason  for  building  in 
this  fashion.  Moreover,  the  high  scaffolding 
thus  provided  is  an  excellent  storehouse,  upon 
which  all  sorts  of  things  can  be  placed  without 
fear  of  molestation  from  wild  animals.  I  saw 
here  a  miscellaneous  collection  of  implements, 
dog-harness,  oars,  fishing-tackle,  and  firewood. 
I  followed  the  chief  down  the  ladder  through  the 
smoke.  The  hole  was  two  feet  wide  and  three 
feet  long.  I  found  myself  in  a  semi-subterra- 
nean apartment,  thirty  feet  in  diameter  and  fif- 
teen feet  high.  As  we  stood  on  the  floor,  our 
heads  were  about  level  with  the  general  surface 
of  the  ground.  The  frame  was  strongly  built  of 
timbers,  evidently  driftwood;  but  everjrthing 
was  black  with  age  and  smoke.  I  found  it  so 
warm  that  I  had  to  remove  my  furs.    The  room 


210  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

was  very  dimly  illuminated  with  what  little  light 
filtered  through  the  hole  in  the  roof;  and  even 
this  was  partially  obscured  by  the  smoke  that  was 
always  passing  up  and  out. 

As  soon  as  my  eyes  became  accustomed  to  the 
perpetual  twilight  of  the  place,  I  perceived  that 
around  the  apartment  ran  a  raised  wooden  plat- 
form, one  foot  high  and  six  broad,  on  which  lay 
piles  of  deerskins.  The  women  were  busy  clear- 
ing off  a  place  for  me,  shaking  out  the  skins  and 
choosing  the  best  ones  for  my  accommodation. 
With  native  courtesy,  which  had  no  stiffness 
about  it,  the  old  gentleman  led  me  to  my  place, 
sat  down  beside  me,  and  began  to  talk.  I  pointed 
to  my  ears  to  show  that  I  did  not  understand 
him. 

There  seemed  to  be  little  difference  between 
the  dress  of  the  men  and  the  women,  excepting 
that  the  wide  "  bloomers  "  of  the  women  were 
made  of  alternate  strips  of  black  and  white  deer- 
skin. Their  clothes  were  indescribably  old  and 
shabby  and  dirty,  and  their  faces  were  anything 
but  clean;  but  for  all  that,  there  were  some  very 
comely  people  among  them.  The  women  wore 
their  hair  in  two  braids,  wound  about  the  head, 
and  fastened  at  the  top  in  front. 

In  these  rooms  one  would  naturally  expect  the 
worst  in  the  matter  of  ventilation,  and  I  was  sur- 
prised to  find  that  it  was  exceptionally  good. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  211 

They  are  enabled  to  arrange  an  air-shaft  so  that 
it  enters  the  room,  near  the  floor,  on  one  side. 
The  draft,  made  by  the  heat  of  the  fire  rising 
through  the  smoke-hole,  causes  pure  air  to  be 
drawn  through  this  ventilating  shaft.  In  fact, 
there  seemed  to  be  no  reason  why  these  dwellings 
should  not  be  made  perfectly  comfortable  and 
sanitary. 

The  women  appeared  to  be  veiy  busy,  and 
even  the  children  were  industriously  making 
thread  from  the  sinews  that  lie  near  the  backbone 
of  the  deer. 

In  this  house  I  found  an  explosive  harpoon 
that  the  natives  had  taken  from  the  body  of  a 
whale.  It  had  been  fired  from  the  deck  of  some 
whaling-vessel,  and  had  been  deeply  embedded  in 
the  flesh  of  the  animal.    It  bore  no  name. 

The  Koraks  have  two  dialects,  one  of  which  is 
spoken  by  the  Dog  Koraks,  and  the  other  spoken 
by  the  Deer  Koraks,  but  the  slight  variations  are 
not  marked  enough  to  constitute  a  serious  barrier 
to  communication  between  them.  All  these 
tribes,  without  doubt,  belong  to  the  great  Tura- 
nian family,  and  are  allied  to  the  Mongols,  Os- 
tiaks,  Samoyeds,  and  other  tribes  of  northern 
Asia.  The  evidence  for  this  is  both  physiological 
and  philological. 

The  writer  before  quoted  says  truly  of  these 
people  that  "  their  manner  of  living  is  slovenly 


212  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

to  the  last  degree;  they  never  wash  their  hands 
or  face,  nor  cut  their  nails;  everything  about 
them  smells  of  fish;  they  never  comb  their  heads, 
but  both  men  and  women  plait  their  hair  in  two 
braids;  when  any  hair  starts  out  they  sew  it  in 
with  threads  to  make  it  lie  close ;  and,  as  a  result, 
they  have  such  a  quantity  of  lice  that  they  can 
scrape  them  oiF  by  handfuls."  Time  seems  not  to 
have  weaned  them  from  these  disgusting  habits. 

These  people  reckon  ten  months  to  the  year, 
not  by  reference  to  the  changes  of  the  moon,  but 
by  the  order  of  special  occurrences  which  take 
place  each  year,  with  sufficient  regularity  for  the 
purpose.  The  months  in  their  order  are:  Puri- 
fier of  Sins,  Breaker  of  Hatchets,  Beginning  of 
Heat,  Time  of  the  Long  Day,  Preparing  Month, 
Red-Fish  Month,  White-Fish  Month,  Kaiko 
Fish  Month,  Great  White-Fish  Month,  and 
Leaf-FalHng  Month.  Others  name  them  as  fol- 
lows: River-Freezing  Month,  Hunting  Month, 
Purifier  of  Sins,  Breaker  of  Hatchets,  Long 
Day  Month,  Sea  Beavers'  Puppying  Month, 
Sea  Calves'  Puppying  Month,  Tame  Deer  Foal- 
ing Month,  Wild  Deer  Foaling  Month,  Begin- 
ning of  Fishing. 

A  peculiar  custom  sometimes  to  be  noted 
among  these  people  is  that  of  drinking  a  kind 
of  liquor  made  from  a  large  species  of  mush- 
room.    The  effect  is,  in  some  respects,  similar 


o 

3 


.Ml^ 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  215 

to  that  produced  by  the  use  of  hashish.  At  first 
the  imbiber  shakes  as  with  the  ague;  and  pres- 
ently he  begins  to  rave  as  if  in  dehrium.  Some 
jump  and  dance  and  sing,  while  others  cry  out 
as  if  in  agony.  A  small  hole  looks  to  them  like 
a  bottomless  pit,  and  a  pool  of  water  as  broad  as 
the  sea.  These  eiFects  are  produced  only  when 
the  beverage  is  used  to  excess;  a  small  quantity 
has  much  the  same  effect  as  a  moderate  amount 
of  alcoholic  liquor.  Curiously  enough,  after  re- 
covering from  one  of  these  debauches,  they  claim 
that  all  the  antics  performed  were  by  command 
of  the  mushroom.  The  use  of  it  is  not  unat- 
tended with  danger,  for  unless  a  man  is  well 
looked  after  he  is  likely  to  destroy  himself.  The 
Koraks  sometimes  take  this  drug  in  order  to 
work  themselves  up  to  the  point  of  murdering  an 
enemy.  Three  or  four  of  the  mushrooms  is  a 
moderate  dose,  but  when  one  wants  to  get  the 
full  effect  one  takes  ten  or  twelve. 

When  a  native  resolves  to  marry  he  looks  out 
for  a  bride,  not  in  his  own  village,  but  in  a  neigh- 
boring one.  When  he  finds  a  girl  who  pleases 
him,  he  tells  her  parents  that  he  is  desirous  of 
serving  them,  and,  during  this  period  of  proba- 
tion, he  works  most  industriously  in  order  to 
make  a  good  impression.  At  last  he  asks  per- 
mission to  steal  the  girl.  If  his  suit  is  looked 
upon  with  disfavor,  he  is  paid  for  the  service  he 


216  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

has  rendered  and  sent  away,  but  if  he  is  accep- 
table to  the  girl  and  to  her  parents  and  relatives, 
the  permission  is  given.  He  then  seeks  an  op- 
portunity of  finding  the  girl  alone,  which  is  no 
easy  matter,  for  she  is  supposed  to  be  guarded 
by  the  women  of  the  village.  Besides,  the  girl 
is  covered  with  two  or  three  coats,  and  is  wrapped 
about  with  fish-nets  and  straps,  so  that  motion 
is  almost  impossible.  If  the  young  man  succeeds 
in  finding  her  alone,  or  in  company  with  only 
one  or  two  women,  he  seizes  her  and  begins  tear- 
ing off  her  garments,  for  this  constitutes  the 
ceremony  of  marriage.  But  this  is  not  an  easy 
thing  to  do;  for,  though  the  girl  herself  makes 
little  resistance,  such  other  women  as  are  about 
fall  upon  the  would-be  groom  without  mercy, 
and  beat  and  scratch  him  and  use  every  means 
to  prevent  him  from  accomplishing  his  purpose. 
If,  however,  he  is  successful  in  tearing  off  her 
garments,  he  immediately  walks  away  from  her, 
whereupon  she  gently  calls  him  back,  and  the 
ceremony  is  complete.  It  seldom  happens  that 
the  young  man  succeeds  the  first  time,  and  in- 
stances are  known  where  a  man  has  tried  for  sev- 
eral years  to  secure  his  bride,  without  success. 

When  successful,  the  groom  carries  off  his 
bride  to  his  own  village  without  any  ceremony; 
but  after  some  time  thej^  return  to  the  bride's 
home,  and  a  marriage-feast  is  celebrated,  some- 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  217 

what  after  the  following  manner:  the  bridal 
party,  including  the  bridegroom's  friends,  ap- 
proach to  within  a  hundred  paces  of  the  village 
from  which  the  bride  has  been  taken.  They  sing 
and  go  through  certain  mystic  rites  with  a  fish's 
head  wrapped  in  tow  and  carried  by  an  old 
woman.  A  coat  of  sheepskin  is  put  on  the  bride, 
and  several  images  are  hung  about  her  till  she 
can  hardly  bear  up  under  the  load.  A  boy  of  the 
village  comes  out  and  leads  the  bride  in  by  the 
hand.  When  she  comes  to  the  hut  of  her  parents, 
a  strap  is  tied  around  her,  and  by  this  she  is  let 
down  into  the  underground  house.  The  fish- 
head  is  laid  on  the  floor  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder, 
and  the  bride  and  all  who  follow  step  on  it,  after 
which  it  is  thrown  into  the  fire.  The  bride  is 
stripped  of  all  her  superfluous  ornaments,  and 
the  company  take  their  places  about  the  room. 
The  bridegroom  builds  a  fire  and  prepares  the 
food,  which  had  been  brought  for  the  purpose, 
and  entertains  the  people  of  the  village.  The 
next  day,  the  host  entertains  the  visiting  com- 
pany, after  which  every  one  goes  home,  except 
the  bride  and  groom,  who  remain  to  serve  her 
father  for  a  time. 

The  dress  of  the  men  diff'ers  but  slightly  from 
that  of  the  women.  Both  wear  the  same  kind  of 
upper  garment,  with  the  skirts  either  cut  off 
an  equal  length  all  around,  or  with  the  back  part 


218  IN   SEARCH   OF  A 

longer  than  the  front.  The  women  have  an  un- 
der garment  which  they  usually  wear  at  home. 
It  consists  of  a  combination  of  trousers  and 
waistcoat,  the  trousers  being  tied  about  the  leg 
below  the  knee,  and  the  waistcoat  being  tied  with 
a  cord.  As  might  be  supposed,  the  covering 
for  feet  and  ankles  is  a  most  important  matter 
in  this  far  northern  countrj^  In  the  summer- 
time, when  the  ground  is  generally  one  wide 
marsh,  they  wear  the  skins  of  seals,  with  the  hair 
turned  out,  but  often  make  their  leggings  of  the 
skin  of  reindeer  legs.  The  very  finest  foot-wear 
is  made  with  the  sole  of  white  sealskin,  and  the 
upper  of  fine  dyed  leather  from  the  hind  quar- 
ters of  a  white  dogskin.  The  part  that  incases 
the  calf  of  the  leg  is  made  of  dressed  leather  or 
dyed  sealskin.  The  tops  are  always  richly  em- 
broidered with  silk  thread.  If  a  young  man  is 
adorned  with  these  shoes,  immediately  it  is  con- 
tluded  that  he  is  in  search  of  a  wife. 

Since  the  complete  conquest  of  these  parts  by 
the  Russians  w^ar  has  been  practically  unknown, 
but  during  the  process  of  conquest  the  natives 
made  a  stubborn  resistance.  They  never  fought 
in  the  open,  but  always  by  stratagem.  A  com- 
pany of  Cossacks,  arriving  at  a  village,  would 
be  hospitably  received,  the  tribute  would  be  paid, 
and  large  presents  made  in  addition;  but  when 
all  suspicion  had  been  lulled  to  rest  the  Cossacks 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  219 

were  likely  to  wake  in  the  night  to  find  them- 
selves in  the  midst  of  flames.  If  any  one  suc- 
ceeded in  breaking  through  the  flames,  a  worse 
fate  awaited  him;  for  then  he  was  slowly  tor- 
tured to  death  by  burning,  or  cut  to  pieces  and 
disemboweled  while  vet  alive.  If  the  natives 
were  in  strong  force,  upon  hearing  of  the  ap- 
proach of  the  Cossacks  they  would  retire  to  some 
high  place,  which  they  would  strongly  fortify 
and  hold  as  best  they  could  against  the  invaders. 
If  unable  to  hold  their  position,  they  would  first 
cut  the  throats  of  the  women  and  children,  and 
then  throw  themselves  over  a  precipice,  or  rush 
upon  the  enemy  to  be  ruthlessly  cut  down. 

These  people  have  indistinct  notions  about  a 
deity,  but  they  render  him  no  homage.  On  the 
contrary,  they  treat  his  name  with  the  utmost 
irreverence,  and  relate  stories  about  him  that 
rival  the  scandals  of  Olympus.  They  blame  him 
for  making  so  many  steep  hills,  so  many  rapid 
rivers,  and  for  sending  so  many  storms.  Some- 
times they  raise  a  pillar  in  the  plain  and  bind 
it  around  with  rags,  and  whenever  they  pass, 
throw  at  it  pieces  of  fish  or  other  food.  But  it 
is  noted  that  they  give  nothing  that  they  can  use 
themselves — only  the  tails  of  fish  or  other  refuse. 
Besides  these  pillars,  there  are  other  places  that 
they  reckon  sacred,  such  as  smoking  momitains, 
hot  springs,  and  certain  forests,  all  of  which  they 


220  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

imagine  to  be  inhabited  by  devils,  whom  they 
fear  much  more  than  the  gods. 

A  Russian  who  lived  for  a  long  time  among 
these  people  says  of  them: 

All  their  beliefs  concerning  both  gods  and  devils  are 
certainly  very  simple  and  ridiculous;  however,  it  shows 
that  they  endeavor  to  account  for  the  existence  of  every- 
thing as  far  as  they  are  able;  and  some  of  them  try  to 
penetrate  into  the  thoughts  even  of  the  birds  and  fishes. 
But  when  once  a  belief  is  established  they  never  trouble 
themselves  with  inquiring  whether  the  thing  be  possible 
or  not.     Hence  their  rehgion  depends  entirely  upon  an- 
cient tradition,  which  they  believe  without  questioning. 
They  have  no  notion  of  a  supreme  being  that  influences 
their  happiness  or  misery,  but  hold  that  every  man's 
good  or  bad  fortune  depends  upon  himself.     The  world, 
they  believe,  is  eternal,  the   soul  immortal,    and   that  it 
shall  again  be  joined  to  the  body  and  live  eternally, 
subject  to  the  same  fatigues  and  troubles  as  in  this  pres- 
ent life,  with  this  difference  only:  that  they  shall  have 
a  greater  abundance  of  all  the  necessaries  of  life.    Even 
the  smallest  animals,  they  beheve,  will  rise  again  and 
dwell  under  the  earth.     They  think  the  earth  is  flat,  and 
that  under  it  there  is  a  firmament  like  ours ;  and  under 
that  firmament  another  earth  like  ours;  in  which  when 
we  have  summer  they  have  winter,  and  when  we  have 
winter  they  have  summer.     With  regard  to  future  re- 
wards and  punishments  they  believe  that  in  the  other 
world  the  rich  will  be  poor  and  the  poor  will  be  rich. 
Their  notions  of  vice  and  virtue  are  as  extraordinary 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  221 

as  those  they  entertain  of  God.  They  believe  every- 
thing lawful  that  procures  them  the  satisfaction  of  their 
wishes  and  passions,  and  think  that  only  is  sinful  from 
which  they  apprehend  danger  or  ruin ;  so  that  they 
reckon  neither  murder,  suicide,  or  adultery,  oppression, 
nor  the  like  any  wickedness:  on  the  contrary,  they  look 
upon  it  as  a  mortal  sin  to  save  any  one  that  is  drowning, 
because,  according  to  their  notions,  whoever  saves  such 
an  one  will  soon  be  drowned  himself.  They  reckon  it 
likewise  a  sin  to  bathe  in  or  to  drink  hot  water,  or  to  go 
up  to  the  burning  mountains. 

They  worship  several  animals  from  which  they  ap- 
prehend danger.  They  offer  fire  at  the  holes  of  sables 
and  foxes;  when  fishing  they  entreat  the  whales  or  sea- 
horses not  to  overturn  their  boats ;  and  in  hunting  they 
beseech  the  bears  and  wolves  not  to  hurt  them. 

The  wandering  Koraks  are  extremely  jealous, 
and  sometimes  kill  their  wives  upon  the  merest 
suspicion.  Adultery  is  punished  b}^  the  death 
of  both  parties.  This  extreme  jealousy  on  the 
part  of  husbands  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the 
women  take  no  care  of  their  persons,  and  are  al- 
ways dirty  and  repulsive.  They  say  that  their 
husbands  believe  that  any  attempt  at  personal 
adornment  would  be  a  sign  that  they  were  wav- 
ering in  their  affections,  for  their  husbands  can 
love  them  without  any  such  adornment.  With 
the  Koraks  who  live  in  the  "  hour-glass  "  houses 
the  case  is  reversed,  for  they  are  extremely  care- 


222  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

less  of  the  virtue  of  their  wives  and  daughters; 
so  much  so,  that  frequently  they  lend  either  the 
one  or  the  other  to  their  guests  or  special  friends. 
A  refusal  of  this  civility  they  consider  the  great- 
est affront. 

Among  all  these  tribes,  except  the  Kamcha- 
dales,  theft  is  considered  reputable  so  long  as  one 
does  not  steal  from  people  of  his  own  tribe. 
When  discovered,  theft  is  punished  severely,  but 
only  because  the  thief  was  not  clever  enough  to 
escape  detection.  A  Tchuktche  girl  may  not 
marry  until  she  has  proved  her  dexterity  in  this 
line.  Murder  is  not  looked  upon  as  particularly 
heinous,  unless  one  kills  a  fellow-tribesman.  In 
that  case  the  relatives  of  the  dead  avenge  the 
crime.  Consanguineous  marriages  are  ex- 
tremely common.  A  man  often  takes  a  cousin, 
an  aunt,  or  even  a  mother-in-law  as  his  wife. 
In  fact,  any  relative  except  his  mother  or  daugh- 
ter may  become  his  wife. 

As  soon  as  a  child  is  born  they  set  aside  for  it 
a  number  of  reindeer,  but  the  child  cannot  claim 
them  till  he  has  reached  maturity.  In  naming  a 
child,  they  often  go  through  a  certain  formality. 
Having  set  up  two  sticks,  they  tie  a  string  across 
the  top,  and  from  the  middle  hang  a  stone. 
Then  they  repeat  the  names  of  the  child's  rela- 
tives, and,  during  the  course  of  this  recital, 
should  the  stone  appear  to  shake  or  move,  the 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  223 

name  spoken  at  that  moment  is  given  to  the  child. 
Without  doubt  the  most  curious  custom  among 
these  people  is  that  childbirth  is  a  public  function, 
and  the  whole  village  may  assemble  to  witness 
the  event. 

The  dead  are  commonly  burned.  The  corpse 
is  dressed  in  his  finest  clothes,  and  drawn  to  the 
place  of  cremation  by  his  favorite  deer.  A  great 
pile  of  wood  is  fired,  and  into  the  flames  are 
thrown  the  dead  man's  arms  and  some  of  his 
household  utensils.  After  this  the  deer  are 
killed,  and  they,  together  with  the  man's  body, 
are  thrown  upon  the  fire.  A  year  later  they 
bring  to  the  place  of  cremation  two  young  deer 
and  a  large  number  of  deer  horns,  and,  burying 
the  latter,  they  make  a  pretense  of  sending  a 
herd  of  deer  to  the  dead  man  for  his  use  in  the 
nether  world. 


n 


CHAPTER  XIV 

OFF  FOR  BERING  SEA — THE  TCHUKTCHES 

The  Tchuktches  are  the  Apaches  of  Siberia — Their  hos- 
pitality to  Americans  and  their  hostility  to  Russians — 
Wherein  my  experiences  differ  from  those  of  Mr.  Harry 
DeWindt — Result  of  licking  a  piece  of  stone  with  the 
thermometer  at  45°  below  zero — Konikly — Power  of 
moral  suasion  in  dealing  with  a  rebellious  Korak — The 
cure  of  a  dying  woman  and  the  disgust  of  her  husband — 
Poll-tax  and  the  Tchuktches. 

IMMEDIATELY  upon  our  arrival  at  the 
village  of  Kaminaw  I  began  looking  about 
for  dog-teams  to  take  me  on  the  long  trip 
around  by  the  shore  of  Bering  Sea.  I  found  it 
very  difficult  to  get  good  dogs  there,  but  after 
four  days  of  patient  search  I  secured  two  strong 
young  natives,  each  with  a  team  of  twelve  dogs. 
I  contracted  with  them  to  accompany  me  all 
the  way  from  that  point,  a  distance  of  over  fif- 
teen hundred  miles,  for  fifty  pounds  of  tobacco 
and  twenty  pounds  of  sugar,  all  of  which  I  paid 
in  advance. 

Thus  equipped  I  left  Kaminaw,  and  pushed 

224 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  225 

toward  the  northeast,  following  the  line  of  moun- 
tains, and  examining  the  rivers  and  creeks,  the 
canons  and  the  gulches  for  the  precious  metal. 
We  generally  found  Korak  villages  in  which  to 
lodge,  but  we  suffered  greatly  with  the  excessive 
cold.  Not  infrequently  we  had  to  go  without 
any  fire  at  all,  and  at  such  times  we  found  raw 
meat  preferable  to  empty  stomachs. 

The  next  few  weeks  we  worked  our  way 
toward  the  coast,  one  day  succeeding  another  in 
the  monotonous  iteration  of  camping  and  break- 
ing camp,  and  digging  down  into  bed-rock  in 
a  fruitless  search  for  paying  gold.  As  we  ap- 
proached the  coast  for  the  first  time,  we  fell  in 
with  members  of  the  Tchuktche  tribe.  This 
name  is  generally  spelled  Tchou-tchour,  but  I 
found  the  name  invariably  pronounced  T'chuk- 
tche,  the  apostrophe  signifying  that  the  initial 
T  is  pronounced  separately.  These  people  are 
generally  supposed  to  be  a  rather  ugly  lot,  and 
the  Russians  have  never  been  able  to  subdue 
them  as  they  have  the  other  Siberian  tribes. 
They  are  the  Apaches  of  Siberia,  and  when  at- 
tacked they  retire  to  their  mountain  fastnesses, 
where  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  reach  them. 
They  are  purely  nomadic,  and  subsist  solely 
upon  their  immense  herds  of  reindeer.  They 
are  much  taller  and  broader  in  the  shoulder 
than  is  characteristic  of  any  of  the  other  tribes 


226  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

that  I  have  seen.  Many  of  them  stand  five  feet 
and  eleven  inches.  The  women,  too,  are  tall  and 
well-formed. 

I  had  been  warned  by  the  Russian  authorities 
at  Ghijiga  to  be  on  my  guard  when  I  fell  in  with 
these  fierce  people,  but  I  found  the  warning  en- 
tirely unnecessar}^  They  had  a  clear  knowledge 
of  the  difference  between  a  Russian  and  an 
American.  Their  preference  for  the  American 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  Russians  have  tried  to 
make  them  pay  tribute,  and  have  carried  on  a 
desultoiy  war  with  them  for  fifty  years,  while 
the  American  whalers  bring  them  articles  of 
trade  of  which  they  stand  in  need.  They  took 
the  greatest  interest  in  me,  and  did  everything 
in  their  power  to  make  me  comfortable.  In  their 
sledges  they  would  take  me  on  long  drives  up 
the  water-courses  to  look  for  gold,  and  in  count- 
less other  ways  showed  their  good  will.  They 
were  the  only  people  in  Siberia  with  whom  we 
could  not  bargain  for  meat  or  transport.  They 
simply  would  not  listen  to  my  offers  of  pay,  and 
it  was  only  with  difficulty  that  I  could  get  them 
to  take  presents  of  tobacco  or  tea.  They  smil- 
ingly told  me  that  I  had  better  keep  all  those 
things  till  I  went  south  into  Kamchatka,  "  where 
all  the  people  are  thieves."  I  felt  so  safe  among 
the  Tchuktches  that  never  once  did  I  take  my 
guns  from  the  pack  and  bring  them  into  the  tent 


'^^iJJ^   :^^^^^^' 


One  of  the  Tchuktches — an  unconquered  Race. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  229 

with  me.  One  instance  will  illustrate  the  manner 
in  which  these  good  people  treated  me.  At  one 
point  I  had  to  take  a  three-days'  trip  over  the 
mountains.  It  required  twenty-five  reindeer 
and  five  drivers.  The  village  chief  insisted  on 
carrying  my  baggage,  leaving  my  dog-teams  to 
come  on  behind,  unloaded.  For  this  service  I 
succeeded  in  making  him  take  twenty  cartridges. 

Mr.  Harry  DeWindt  crossed  over  from  the 
American  side,  and  reported  later  that  he  had 
been  captured  by  the  natives,  and,  after  under- 
going great  hardships,  was  rescued  by  a  man-of- 
war.  In  view  of  my  experiences  among  this  peo- 
ple it  is  very  difficult  to  understand  the  treatment 
that  Mr.  DeWindt  received.  I  traveled  all 
along  the  coast  to  the  same  places  visited  by  him, 
and  was  always  treated  as  an  honored  guest  by 
the  natives.  On  the  whole,  they  are  the  finest 
race  of  savages  that  it  has  ever  been  my  lot  to 
meet. 

The  trip  had  been  barren  of  results,  as  far  as 
gold  was  concerned.  Not  long  after  leaving 
Kaminaw  I  struck  a  sandstone  formation,  and 
lost  all  traces  of  the  yellow  metal.  And  now  I 
was  approaching  tlie  coast,  though  I  had  not  as 
yet  caught  sight  ©f  it.  On  the  eighth  of  March 
we  reached  the  foot  of  a  range,  and  one  of  the 
Koraks,  pointing  to  a  distant  summit,  said  that 
from  that  point  we  would  be  able  to  see  the 


230  IN  SEARCH  OF  A! 

ocean.  With  renewed  courage  we  pushed  on. 
Each  of  the  dogs  wore  on  his  feet  soft  deerskin 
moccasins,  and  the  teams  were  being  very  care- 
fully handled,  for  they  were  sadly  worn  by  the 
long  journey.  They  now  needed  constant  urg- 
ing. We  no  longer  rode  on  the  sledges,  but 
walked  beside  them,  pulling  on  the  bow  to  relieve 
the  dogs.  When  the  hills  were  too  steep,  we  had 
to  double  up  the  teams  and  make  two  trips, 
which  lengthened  the  journey  materially.  Dur- 
ing this  period  I  was  compelled  to  keep  my  beard 
trimmed  close  to  my  face,  because  I  found,  by 
hard  experience,  that  my  mustache  would  freeze 
down  to  my  beard  in  such  fashion  that  I  had  a 
mass  of  ice  depending  from  my  face,  which  had 
frequently  to  be  cut  away  with  a  knife.  In  or- 
dinary cold  weather  a  beard  is  a  protection  from 
the  cold,  but  under  those  circumstances  I  found 
that  it  added  greatly  to  my  discomfort. 

Natives  will  pay  more  for  short-haired  dogs, 
for,  in  the  case  of  the  long-haired  dog,  the  moist 
breath,  as  it  flows  back  from  his  nostrils,  soon 
covers  him  with  a  mass  of  icicles.  With  the 
short-haired  dog  this  is  impossible. 

One  day,  shortly  before  we  reached  the  coast, 
we  camped  at  noon,  and,  about  half  a  mile  away, 
I  saw  a  peculiar  outcrop  of  white  rock.  Think- 
ing that  it  might  be  worth  prospecting,  I  put  on 
my  snow-shoes  and  walked  over  to  it,  while  the 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  231 

men  were  getting  dinner  ready.  The  ther- 
mometer stood  at  forty-five  below  zero.  I  found 
that  there  was  only  a  soda-like  incrustation  on 
the  rock.  And  then,  without  thinking  of  the 
after  effects,  I  took  up  a  piece,  about  two 
pounds  in  weight,  and  put  it  to  my  mouth  to 
taste  it.  Of  course  my  tongue  stuck  to  it,  and 
an  excruciating  pain  shot  through  that  organ. 
I  had  taken  a  generous  lick,  and  the  whole  sur- 
face of  my  tongue  was  fastened  firmly  to  the 
stone.  I  managed  to  get  back  to  the  camp,  still 
holding  the  stone  to  my  face.  For  a  moment, 
the  men  gazed  at  me  in  wonder ;  then  one  of  them 
hurried  to  bring  a  kettle  of  warm  water,  which 
he  attempted  to  dash  in  my  face,  but  it  did  not 
reach  the  right  spot.  For  what  he  next  did  I 
shall  be  grateful  always.  He  took  a  large 
mouthful  of  the  warm  water,  and  then,  with 
careful  aim,  squirted  it  between  the  stone  and  my 
face,  and  we  soon  had  the  encumbrance  removed. 
With  it  came  away  a  piece  of  the  skin  of  my 
tongue,  as  large  as  a  silver  quarter.  This  esca- 
pade was  wholly  inexcusable,  as  I  had  already 
had  sad  experience  in  handling  naked  guns  with 
bare,  moist  hands,  and  all  my  weapons  were 
wrapped  in  buckskin,  with  only  the  sights  ex- 
posed. 

Our  teams  were  now  so  exhausted  that  sev- 
erjal  of  the  dogs  dropped  out  entirely,  to  crawl 


232  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

along  after  us  as  best  they  might.  Looking 
back,  from  time  to  time,  I  could  see  them  trying 
desperately  to  keep  up,  for  they  seemed  to  know 
that  their  only  chance  of  life  was  to  reach  the 
camp  before  night,  to  get  some  of  the  dog-food, 
which  was  running  very  low.  They  were  quite 
useless  in  the  collar,  for  they  not  only  did  not 
draw,  but  held  back  the  other  dogs  who  were 
able  to  pull.  I  had  started  with  fourteen  good, 
strong  animals,  but  now  was  reduced  to  eight; 
and  even  these  looked  like  skeletons.  However, 
these  eight  were  game  to  the  backbone,  and 
would  'pull  till  they  fell  dead  in  the  harness. 
'*  Old  Red,"  still  my  right-hand  dog,  would  occa- 
sionally look  over  his  shoulder  with  pitiful  eyes 
when  I  called,  "  Hyuk,  hyuk!"  and  then  he 
would  put  down  his  head  and  strain  at  his  collar, 
while  his  breath  came  in  coughing  gasps.  The 
ravens  followed  us  for  the  last  five  days,  seeming 
to  know  that  if  the  dogs  gave  out  they  would 
have  a  feast.  As  for  us  men,  we  were  in  no  dan- 
ger, for  we  could  easily  have  walked  to  the  coast. 
At  last,  one  memorable  day,  we  dragged  our- 
selves to  that  last  summit,  and  there,  before  us, 
were  the  waters  of  the  sea,  stretching  out  far  to 
the  east,  with  the  pack-ice  extending  fifteen 
miles  out  from  the  shore.  Below  us,  ten  miles 
away,  we  could  see  the  black  dots  that  stood  for 
the  "  hour-glass  "  huts,  where  we  knew  there  was 


XT. 


c 
3 

o 

P 

p 

l-S 

<-t- 


O 


4' 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  235 

warmth,  food,  and  rest  for  ourselves  and  our 
dogs.  Since  that  day  I  have  been  able  to  sym- 
pathize keenly  with  Xenophon  and  his  ten  thou- 
sand, when  they  caught  sight  of  the  waters  of 
the  Euxine,  and  raised  that  glad  shout  of  "  Tha- 
lassa,  thalassa ! " 

Though  the  dogs  were  very  weak  and  worn, 
we  went  in  with  a  rush,  as  usual.  But  the  mo- 
ment we  stojiped,  the  poor  fellows  dropped  in 
their  tracks  and  went  to  sleep,  without  a  thought 
of  food.  Their  utter  exhaustion  was  due  to  the 
fact  that  for  the  last  ten  days  we  had  been  cross- 
ing a  stretch  of  uninhabited  country,  and  it  had 
been  impossible  to  secure  for  them  the  necessary 
amount  of  food. 

We  were  much  relieved  to  find  ourselves  once 
more  in  "  civilization,"  and  we  were  in  no  hurry 
to  move  on.  The  people  received  us  so  hospita- 
bly, and  with  such  genuine  kindness,  that  we 
spent  a  week  with  them,  resting  and  getting  the 
dogs  into  condition  again.  Eveiy  day  we  were 
regaled  with  frozen  fish,  dried  fish,  dainty  bits 
of  walrus  blubber,  and  frozen  blueberries. 

Some  of  the  people  of  this  tribe  have  curly 
hair,  a  thing  that  I  had  not  seen  before  in  Sibe- 
ria. They  speak  with  one  of  those  peculiar 
"  clicks "  that  are  so  baffling  to  the  Western 
tongue,  and  which  I  had  always  supposed  were 
confined  to  the  languages  of  Africa. 


236  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

The  village  was  composed  of  a  mixed  race  in 
whose  veins  was  mingled  Tchuktche,  Korak,  and 
Kamchatkan  blood,  in  about  equal  proportions. 

On  our  second  day  there  I  was  glad  to  see  the 
dogs  that  had  dropped  behind  dragging  them- 
selves in.    They  were  tied  up  in  their  old  places, 
and  fed  generously  on  seal  blubber  and  hot  fish- 
soup,  which  might  be  called  a  kind  of  fish  and 
oil  chowder.     They   were   all   suffering   badly 
from  the  need  of  fatty  foods,  and  it  was  interest- 
ing to  see  the  avidity  with  which  they  would  bolt 
huge  pieces  of  clear  blubber.    At  the  end  of  our 
week  of  rest,  they  were  all  fat  again,  their  feet 
were  healed  up,  and  they  were  eager  for  the 
road  once  more.     Some  of  the  dogs  that  had 
shown    less    endurance    than    the    others    were 
traded  off  and  better  ones  secured.     The  best 
medium  of  exchange  seemed   to   be   the   little 
skeins  of  sewing-silk  which  I  had  been  careful 
to  bring.    Skeins  that  were  bought  in  Vladivos- 
tok for  two   and   a   half   cents   apiece   readily 
brought  a  dollar  here.     I  would  have  sold  it 
cheaper,  but  they  pushed  the  price  of  the  dogs 
up  from  five  dollars  to  twenty,  and  I  was  obliged 
to  follow  suit.    The  silk  was  in  all  the  colors  of 
the  rainbow;  it  was  a  studv  to  see  the  faces  of 
these  natives  as  they  devoured  the  gaudy  stuff 
with  their  eyes,  especially  the  women.    They  use 
the  silk  to  embroider  the  bottoms  of  their  fur 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  237 

cloaks,  some  of  which  are  tnie  works  of  art. 
Traders  have  been  known  to  pay  as  high  as  two 
hundred  dollars  for  a  single  coat.  The  amount 
of  needlework  on  them  is  simply  enormous. 
Sometimes  they  cut  out  little  pieces  of  skin  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  square,  of  all  colors  and 
shades,  and  make  a  genuine  mosaic  of  them,  and 
around  the  bottom  of  each  garment  is  a  wide 
fringe  of  silk.  The  natives  laughed  at  the  prices 
that  I  asked,  and  good-naturedly  expostulated 
with  me,  saying  that  they  could  get  the  same 
thing  in  Ghijiga  much  cheaper;  to  which  I 
laughingly  answered  that  thej^  were  at  liberty  to 
go  and  get  it.  Whenever  I  left  a  house,  I  pre- 
sented the  women  each  with  a  few  needles,  which 
in  that  country  is  a  very  substantial  tip. 

This  village  was  not  composed  of  pure  Tchuk- 
tches,  and  these  mongrel  people  are  looked 
down  upon  by  the  clean  Tchuktche  stock,  who 
frequently  raid  them  and  carry  off  their  best- 
looking  women. 

It  was  now  my  purpose  to  turn  south  along 
the  coast,  and  examine  the  beach  sands  and  the 
rivers  running  into  Bering  Sea,  as  far  down  as 
the  neck  of  the  Kamchatkan  peninsula,  or 
Baron  Koff  Bay.  As  I  was  still  in  a  sandstone 
country,  there  seemed  little  likelihood  of  find- 
ing gold  in  the  beach  sands,  and  unless  the  geo- 
logic formation   changed   as   I   went   south,   I 


238  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

should  push  right  on  without  stopping,  except 
to  rest. 

Bidding  good-by  to  the  friends  who  had 
treated  us  so  kindly,  we  set  out  one  morning,  on 
our  way  southward,  keeping  to  the  smooth  snow 
just  above  the  beach  line.  Once,  and  only  once, 
I  tried  to  shorten  the  journey  by  crossing  an  arm 
of  the  sea  on  the  ice.  Here  I  had  my  first  taste 
of  what  it  must  be  like  to  attempt  to  reach  the 
Pole  across  the  frozen  sea.  Not  once  could  I  go 
fifty  feet  in  a  straight  line.  It  was  an  un- 
speakable jumble  of  hummocks  and  crevasses. 
We  covered  eight  arduous  miles  that  day,  and 
the  dogs  were  so  exhausted  that  we  had  to  stop 
two  days  to  recuperate.  Time  and  again,  that 
miserable  day,  I  got  into  the  water  up  to  my 
waist,  which  necessitated  an  immediate  change 
of  clothes.  About  once  an  hour  the  dogs  would 
fall  into  the  water  and  have  to  be  hauled  out, 
after  which  a  tedious  detour  would  be  made  to 
find  a  more  likely  route  across  the  wilderness  of 
ice. 

The  sixth  day  out  we  reached  Baron  Koff 
Bay.  It  is  a  long,  narrow  inlet  lying  southeast 
and  northwest;  and  at  its  head  I  found  the  little 
Korak  village  where  it  was  decided  that  I  should 
secure  a  guide  to  take  me  to  the  sulphur  depos- 
its, which  were  supposed  to  exist  in  an  extinct 
volcano  in  the  vicinity.     These  people  were  of 


v» 


Kassegan^  half-caste  Russian  ti*ader,  and  Korak  wife^ 
living  at  Boeta,  Baron  KofF  Bay,  Kamcliatka. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  241 

the  same  mixed  blood  as  those  of  the  village  I 
had  so  lately  left,  but  they  did  not  live  in  the 
hour-glass  houses.  They  simply  had  the  under- 
ground room,  with  a  hole  leading  down  into  it. 
The  one  I  entered  was  fifteen  feet  wide  by  ten 
in  height. 

In  this  village  seal-catching  is  the  principal 
pursuit.  The  seal  is  such  an  important  animal 
to  these  people  that  they  go  through  a  peculiar 
ceremony  every  year  in  its  honor — a  ceremony 
that  is  characteristically  childish  and  built  upon 
superstitions. 

Near  this  point  is  an  irmnense  deposit  of  coal 
which  had  been  discovered  by  a  Russian  man-of- 
war  some  twenty  years  before.  The  coal  is  of 
poor  quality,  but  could  be  used  for  steaming  if 
necessary.  The  coal-measures  come  right  down 
to  the  water's  edge.  In  the  cliif  beside  the  water 
I  found  three  veins  of  coal,  with  an  aggregate 
thickness  of  eighty  feet. 

This  was  a  "  dog "  village,  as  distinguished 
from  a  "  deer  "  village,  and  it  was  amusing  to 
see  half  a  dozen  dogs  lying  about  each  of  the 
entrance-holes  of  their  underground  houses,  with 
their  heads  hanging  over  the  edge,  so  that  they 
could  better  appreciate  the  smell  of  food  that 
rose  with  the  smoke  of  the  fire  below.  Of  course 
I  was  always  on  the  lookout  for  good  dogs,  and 
while  I  was  in  this  village  I  came  upon  the  finest 


242  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

specimen  of  a  Siberian  sledge-dog  that  it  was 
ever  my  f  ortmie  to  see.  He  was  tawny  or  light- 
brown  in  color,  with  a  splendid  head,  back,  and 
shoulders.  Clean-limbed,  muscular,  and  straight- 
eared,  his  tail  curved  up  over  his  back  in  the  most 
approved  style.  He  whipped  our  best  dog  in 
less  than  a  minute.  His  name  was  Konikly, 
meaning  "  One  of  Two,"  and  his  stuffed  skin 
can  be  seen  to-day  in  the  American  Museum  of 
Natural  History.  I  presented  him  to  the  Jessup 
Expedition,  in  charge  of  which  was  Mr.  Buxton, 
whom  I  afterward  met  in  Vladivostok  on  his 
way  to  the  north.  I  tried  to  obtain  this  dog,  but 
found,  to  my  chagrin,  that  he  had  been  marked 
for  sacrifice,  and  could  not  be  bought.  After 
bidding  in  vain  up  to  fifty  dollars  in  tea,  sugar, 
and  silk,  I  came  to  the  sad  conclusion  that  the 
animal  was  not  on  the  market.  But  Snevaydoff, 
my  right-hand  man,  said  to  me  in  Russian, 
"  There  is  a  better  way.  We  must  simply  take 
him  and  leave  behind  sufficient  compensation." 
This,  of  course,  I  hesitated  to  do  until  I  found 
that  the  natives  would  gladly  sell  him,  but  did 
not  dare  to  do  so,  for  fear  of  angering  the  deity 
to  whom  he  had  been  vowed  in  sacrifice.  If,  how- 
ever, we  took  the  dog  by  force  they  would  not 
be  to  blame,  and  could  demand  the  price  as  com- 
pensation. So  I  left  the  matter  with  Snevaydoff 
to  arrange  as  diplomatically  as  he  could. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  243 

We  waited  a  day  or  so  for  a  Korak  named 
Myela,  who  was  to  guide  us  to  the  sulphur  de- 
posits, and  when  he  arrived  we  made  ready  to 
start  the  next  morning.  Everything  was  loaded 
the  night  before,  and  some  time  in  the  night  my 
Korak  drivers  hitched  up  the  dogs,  taking  Koni- 
kly  with  them,  and  drove  out  of  the  village. 
When  morning  came,  the  owner  of  the  dogs 
seemed  much  surprised  to  find  that  his  dog  was 
missing,  and  he  very  naturally  surmised  that  my 
men  had  taken  him.  He  demanded  that  I  should 
pay  for  the  stolen  animal.  Of  course  I  pro- 
tested, but  in  the  end  paid  the  full  price,  and 
then  every  one  was  happy  and  satisfied.  After 
these  ethical  gynmastics,  we  drove  out  of  the  vil- 
lage, and  made  our  way  southward  to  the  mouth 
of  a  river  near  which  point  the  sulphur  deposits 
were  supposed  to  be;  but  I  found,  to  my  disgust, 
that  the  place  was  twenty  miles  inland,  up  an 
unnavigable  river,  and  through  a  very  rough 
country.  I  saw  at  a  glance  that  it  could  never 
be  a  good  mining  venture,  but  I  determined  to 
go  and  examine  the  deposit,  in  order  to  be  able 
to  give  a  thorough  report  of  the  case. 

That  night  we  arrived  at  Myela's  home,  which 
was  an  isolated  house  or  hole  in  the  ground. 
For  the  last  twelve  miles  we  had  been  gradually 
ascending  the  valley,  and  the  next  morning  we 
saw,   eight   miles   away,   the   extinct   crater   in 


2U  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

which  the  sulphur  lay.  We  unloaded  the  sledges, 
and,  taking  only  our  picks  and  shovels,  found 
oui'selves,  two  hours  later,  on  the  summit  of  the 
volcano.  The  crater  was  partly  filled  with  snow, 
but  on  one  side,  where  it  had  been  wind-swept,  it 
was  not  deep.  We  carefully  descended  the 
steep  side  of  the  crater  until  Myela  stopped 
us,  and  said,  "  Dig  here."  After  going  down 
through  six  feet  of  snow  to  the  ground  I  found 
it  strewn  with  detached  boulders,  covered  with 
a  thin  film  of  sulphur,  evidently  a  late  solfataric 
deposit  from  the  crater  which  had  been  lately 
active,  and  the  indications  did  not  promise  large 
quantities;  but  even  if  the  deposit  proved  to  be 
rich,  I  could  see  very  well  that  mining  it  would 
never  pay.  The  distance  from  the  coast,  the 
roughness  of  the  country,  and  the  complete  ab- 
sence of  timber  made  it  out  of  the  question.  A 
careful  examination  of  the  place  was,  therefore, 
unnecessary. 

I  was  then  ready  to  s^.art  for  Cape  Memaitch, 
on  the  western  coast  of  the  peninsula,  but  I  per- 
ceived that  if  I  went  all  the  way  back  to  Baron 
Koff  Bay  to  make  a  new  start,  considerable  time 
would  be  lost.  One  of  my  Koraks  was  tired  of 
the  trip,  and  insisted  on  going  back  home  by  the 
shortest  route,  rather  than  by  way  of  Cape  Me- 
maitch. He  absolutely  refused  to  cross  the 
range  of  mountains,  as  the  spring  sun  was  now. 


n 

irf- 

n 


w  a. 

P      CI. 

2-  aq 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  247 

beating  down  on  the  snow,  and  he  feared  that, 
at  any  time,  we  would  be  engulfed  in  an  ava- 
lanche. I  had  already  learned  that  this  route 
would  not  be  really  dangerous  till  three  weeks 
later,  and  that  if  we  pushed  right  through  we 
should  be  quite  safe.  So  on  the  morning  of 
starting  I  sent  off  the  other  Korak  with  one  of 
the  sledges,  and  then  turned  to  the  unwilling  one 
and  asked  whether  he  would  go  with  me  over 
the  mountains.  He  still  said  no.  I  drew  my  re- 
volver, and  told  him  that  his  only  chance  of  see- 
ing home  again  was  to  hitch  those  dogs  up  in- 
stantly and  obey  me  to  the  letter.  He  stood  for 
a  moment  looking  into  that  compelling  muzzle, 
and  then  turned,  sullenly,  and  began  harnessing 
up.    I  had  no  more  trouble  with  him  after  that. 

Two  reindeer  sledges  were  engaged  to  show 
us  the  way  across  the  mountains,  and  to  break 
the  track  wherever  necessary.  They  started  a 
mile  in  advance,  so  as  to  keep  out  of  sight  of 
the  dogs.  It  was  easy  work  to  follow,  for  it  was 
simply  an  all-day  chase  for  the  dogs;  each  one 
had  his  nose  to  the  ground,  and  was  fondly 
imagining  that  he  would  soon  enjoy  the  unpar- 
alleled dehght  of  jumping  at  a  reindeer's  throat. 

Myela  led  us  before  night  to  a  Korak  village 
of  three  yourtas.  As  we  approached  it  I  saw  a 
crowd  huddled  about  something  on  the  ground. 
It  proved  to  be  a  middle-aged  woman,  lying  on 

12 


248  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

a  deerskin,  and  she  seemed  to  be  dying.  I  asked 
why  they  did  not  take  her  inside,  and  was  told 
that  she  had  asked  to  be  brought  out.  I  studied 
her  symptoms,  and  decided  that  she  was  suffering 
from  the  grippe,  and  that  her  case  demanded 
heroic  treatment.  She  had  not  slept  for  three 
nights,  so  I  gave  her  twenty  grains  of  quinine, 
two  cathartic  pills,  and  one-tenth  grain  of  mor- 
phine. She  woke  up  the  next  morning  with  her 
eyes  brighter,  and  feeling  better  in  every  way. 
I  gave  her  ten  more  grains  of  quinine,  and  that 
afternoon  she  sat  up,  and  dipped  her  hand  into 
the  dish  of  meat  and  "  spinach,"  and  ate  her  full 
share.  I  thought  her  cure  was  something  of  a 
triumph,  for  when  I  saw  her  she  seemed  to  be 
in  articulo  mortis.  As  I  was  about  to  leave,  the 
husband  of  this  woman,  a  man  of  many  reindeer, 
asked  me  if  I  had  not  forgotten  something,  and 
intimated  that  I  had  not  paid  for  the  meat  that 
my  dogs  had  eaten.  I  asked  him  if  he  did  not 
think  that  my  curing  of  his  wife  was  compen- 
sation enough;  nevertheless,  I  paid  him  his  full 
price  and  departed.  My  Korak  men  told  me  later 
that  the  old  fellow  was  angry  because  I  had 
saved  the  woman,  as  he  had  already  picked  out 
a  young  and  pretty  girl  to  be  her  successor. 
Alas !  I  had  unwittingly  come  between  man  and 
wife,  and  had  wrecked  (at  least  his)  domestic 
bliss.  On  the  whole,  I  am  not  sure  but  that  it 
would  have  been  kinder  to  have  let  her  die. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  249 

Our  way  led  up  a  succession  of  canons,  and 
then  over  high  mesas  until  we  reached  the  sum- 
mit of  the  range.  As  we  were  passing  up 
through  these  canons,  we  frequently  ran  under 
the  edges  of  enormous  overhanging  drifts,  and  I 
looked  up  anxiously,  but  nothing  fell  except  a 
Uttle  light  snow  and  a  few  small  pebbles.  After 
passing  the  summit  I  determined  to  take  no 
chances  at  all,  and  so  restricted  traveling  to  the 
night-time,  when,  of  course,  everything  was 
frozen  stiff. 

It  was  now  well  into  April,  and  the  sun  was 
climbing  up  into  the  heavens  at  noon.  The  sur- 
face of  the  snow  grew  a  little  too  soft  to  make 
day  travel  quite  comfortable.  On  this  side  of 
the  mountains  I  found  considerable  float  coal, 
especially  in  the  beds  of  the  creeks.  The  whole 
country  was  a  sandstone  formation,  which,  of 
course,  meant  no  gold.  At  last,  far  in  the  dis- 
tance, we  saw  the  blue  waters  of  the  Okhotsk 
Sea  flashing  under  the  rays  of  the  western  sun, 
and  we  came  down  rapidly  to  the  shore.  I  saw 
below  us  a  few  of  the  hour-glass  huts,  and  at 
the  mouth  of  a  shallow  stream  a  long  promon- 
tory running  far  out  into  the  sea.  This  was 
Cape  Memaitch,— whither  I  was  bound  because 
the  Russians  had  heard  reports  of  a  United 
States  schooner  touching  at  this  point  and  taking 
away  full  cargoes  of  ore  to  San  Francisco. 

The  first  question  I  asked  was  whether  or  not 


250  IN   SEARCH  OF  Al 

it  was  true  that  such  a  vessel  had  actually 
stopped  there,  and  was  answered  in  the  affirma- 
tive. A  villager  offered  to  guide  me  to  the  spot 
from  which  the  ore  had  been  taken.  I  was  natu- 
rally elated,  for  there  was  now  a  prospect  of 
finding  something  that  would  benefit  my  em- 
ployers. The  next  morning  we  started  out 
along  the  shore.  The  guide  led  me  to  the  face  of 
a  sandstone  bluff,  and  said,  "  Here  is  the  place 
from  which  they  took  the  ore."  To  say  that  I 
was  dumfounded  would  be  to  put  it  mildly. 
When  I  had  recovered  sufficiently  to  fairly  get 
my  breath,  I  asked  why  this  stuff  had  been 
loaded  on  the  vessel,  and  the  guide  calmly  replied 
that  it  had  been  done  to  keep  the  ship  from  turn- 
ing over.  It  appeared  that  the  vessel  was  a  Rus- 
sian, and  not  an  American,  after  all.  This  place 
had  been  a  favorite  rendezvous  for  traders,  and 
the  schooner  had  come  to  exchange  the  products 
of  civilization  for  the  skins  offered  by  the  natives. 
Of  course,  when  the  vessel  was  unloaded  it  was 
necessary  to  secure  ballast,  and  for  this  purpose 
the  sandstone  had  been  brought  into  requisi- 
tion. I  shrugged  my  shoulders,  and  tried  to  take 
it  philosophically. 

Our  next  move  was  to  start  on  the  return  trip 
around  the  head  of  the  Okhotsk  Sea  to  Kami- 
naw.  We  had  a  beautiful  road  over  the  smooth 
tundra.     Konikly  was  now  leading  with  *'  Old 


w 


OR 


o 


crq 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  253 

Red,"  and  every  time  we  stopped,  the  two  would 
fight,  for  the  latter  was  very  loath  to  share  my 
affection  with  Konikly,  whom  he  considered  a 
parvenu. 

As  we  were  speeding  along  the  beaten  track 
the  Koraks  would  break  out  in  a  wild  strain  of 
music;  then  Snevaydoff  would  sing  one  of  the 
Russian  peasant-songs,  and  occasionally,  not  to 
be  outdone,  I  would  give  them  a  few  bars  of 
some  such  touching  lyric  as  "  A  Hot  Time,"  or 
"  After  the  Ball."  Thus  we  whiled  away  the 
long  hours  on  the  road. 

Every  few  hours  we  changed  places,  letting 
each  team  lead  in  turn,  for  only  the  driver  of 
the  head  team  had  any  work  to  do.  The  others 
could  even  lie  down  and  go  to  sleep  if  they 
wished,  for  the  dogs  drew  as  steadily  and  as 
patiently  as  mules.  It  seemed  second  nature  to 
them.  I  used  to  sit  and  wonder  how  they  could 
be  trained  to  undergo  sucli  severe  labor.  I  found 
out  that,  when  only  four  months  old,  they  are 
put  into  the  hands  of  the  small  boys  to  train. 
They  make  up  little  teams  of  pups,  with  the  mo- 
ther dog,  perhaps,  as  leader,  and  bring  in  water 
from  the  neighboring  stream  or  drag  in  the  fire- 
wood. By  the  time  they  are  a  year  old  thej^  ai*e 
ready  to  be  turned  over  to  a  grown-up,  who 
hitches  up  one  or  two  of  the  young  dogs  with  some 
steady  old  fellows,  and  it  is  not  long  before  the 


254  SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE 

training  is  complete.  This  method  not  only 
trains  the  dogs,  but  it  teaches  the  boys  how  to 
handle  them,  so  that  by  the  time  they  are  young 
men  they  are  expert  drivers. 

After  several  days  of  fine  going  we  arrived  at 
Kaminaw,  where  I  found  the  Ghijiga  magis- 
trate, who  had  come  on  his  annual  collecting  tour. 
Each  of  the  Koraks  pays  an  annual  poll-tax  of 
four  and  a  half  dollars'  worth  of  skins.  These 
are  taken  to  Ghijiga,  and  there  auctioned  off  to 
the  highest  bidder.  All  these  northern  natives 
pay  this  tax,  except  the  Tchuktches,  who  refuse  to 
pay  a  cent.  I  found  the  magistrate  in  one  of  the 
huts,  reclining  on  several  bearskins,  and  kindly 
and  affable  as  ever.  Over  him  was  arranged  a 
sort  of  canopy  to  protect  him  from  particles  of 
dust  or  dirt  that  might  fall  from  between  the 
rafters  of  the  building.  He  was  dressed  in  his 
full  regimentals  of  green  and  gold,  with  a  sword 
at  his  side.  He  gave  me  a  fine  Cup  of  coffee, 
and  made  me  take  a  pound  of  the  fragrant  berry 
to  cheer  me  on  my  way  in  to  Ghijiga.  I  jealously 
guarded  it,  and  made  the  grounds  do  duty  three 
or  four  times  over  till  every  particle  of  the  cafFein 
had  been  extracted. 


CHAPTER  XV 

A   PERILOUS   SUMMER   TRIP 

The  tundra  in  summer — Crossing  the  swift  Paran  River — 
Literally  billions  of  mosquitos — Unique  measures  of  pro- 
tection against  these  pests — Mad  race  down  the  Uchingay 
River  on  a  raft — Lighting  a  fire  with  a  pistol — Narrow 
escape  from  drowning — Fronyo  proves  to  be  a  man  of 
mettle — Pak  is  caught  stealing  from  slim  supply  of  pro- 
visions and  receives  chastisement — Subsisting  on  wild 
onions  and  half-ripe  berries — Help  at  last. 

AFTER  a  rest  of  two  days  we  started  out  on 
l\.  the  home  stretch  toward  Ghijiga,  which  lay 
three  hundred  miles  to  the  southwest.  As  the 
snow  was  now  very  soft  the  wooden  runners  of  our 
sledges  were  useless.  The  wet  snow  stuck  to 
them,  and  made  progress  almost  impossible.  We 
therefore  purchased  sets  of  whalebone  runners, 
cut  from  the  ribs  of  the  whale,  and  pared  down  to 
a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  These  strips  are 
pinned  to  the  sledge  runners,  one  piece  overlap- 
ping another,  and  the  joints  worked  down  smooth. 
These  are  as  good  on  wet  snow  as  the  iced  wooden 
runners  are  on  dry  snow.  We  made  the  three 
hundred  miles  in  four  days,  which  was  doing 

255 


256  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

fairly  well,  considering  the  fact  that  we  came 
back  with  only  half  the  number  of  dogs  that  we 
started  out  with.  It  is  true,  however,  that  we  had 
made  one  or  two  valuable  acquisitions  in  the  dog 
line,  especially  Konikly,  with  whom  I  became 
more  and  more  pleased.  We  fed  the  dogs  on  the 
best  the  land  could  provide,  and  kept  them  on 
the  road  from  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  a  day. 
Our  provisions  were,  of  course,  almost  gone,  and 
we  were  coming  back  practically  as  "  empties." 

In  making  long  trips  the  natives  frequently 
have  to  cache  a  part  of  their  provisions  along  the 
way  for  use  on  the  return  trip.  They  make  a  little 
scaffold  on  the  stumps  of  trees  or  between  two  or 
three  living  trees.  Even  though  not  set  up  very 
much  above  the  snow  line,  the  snow  is  so  deep  that 
by  the  time  summer  has  melted  it  away  the  goods 
are  high  and  dry.  No  one  except  the  owner 
would  ever  think  of  touching  these  provisions. 

Upon  my  return  I  found  that  the  snows  were 
fast  melting,  and  green  tints  were  beginning  to 
appear  on  the  hillsides.  I  thought,  however,  that 
there  would  be  enough  snow  to  allow  me  to  take  a 
little  run  down  the  peninsula  that  lies  between  the 
two  northern  arms  of  the  Okhotsk  Sea  in  search 
of  a  deposit  of  cinnabar  of  which  I  had  heard 
rumors ;  but  after  two  days  of  hard  work,  urging 
the  dogs  over  bare  tundra,  I  gave  it  up  and  came 
back  in  disgust.    By  June  1  the  snow  was  quite 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  259 

gone,  except  upon  the  highest  hills  and  in  the  se- 
cluded nooks  where  deep  drifts  had  lain.  The 
river  was  still  very  high,  and  filled  with  floating 
ice.  The  sun  was  now  visible  twenty  hours  out  of 
the  twenty-four. 

I  was  soon  ready  for  a  summer  trip.  The  ser- 
vices of  my  old  friend  Chrisoif sky  and  half  a 
dozen  of  his  horses  were  secured,  and,  taking 
along  my  two  Koreans,  who  had  wintered  at 
Ghijiga  while  I  was  making  my  trip  to  the  shores 
of  Bering  Sea,  I  started  out,  sitting  in  the  saddle 
which  had  been  left  in  the  village  thirty  years 
before  by  Mr.  George  Kennan.  He  was  then 
a  leading  spirit  in  the  American  Russian  Tele- 
graph Company,  whose  object  was  to  build  a  line 
across  Bering  Strait  and  connect  the  two  conti- 
nents. Of  this  saddle  there  was  nothing  left  but 
the  tree  and  a  little  leather  on  the  cantle,  bearing 
a  San  Francisco  stamp.  Mrs.  Braggin  said  that 
Mr.  Kennan  had  given  it  to  her  when  he  left; 
I  rigged  it  up  with  stirrups  and  used  it  all 
summer. 

Plodding  northward,  we  reached  ChrisofFsky's 
place  about  bedtime,  soaked  with  mud  and  water. 
The  tundra  was  like  a  great  marsh,  through 
which  we  had  to  flounder.  We  tried  to  keep  to 
the  beds  of  the  little  creeks  in  which  the  water 
had  worn  away  the  moss  and  turf.  Where  this 
was  not  possible,  we  had  to  wade  through  almost 


260  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

bottomless  mud.  Even  though  lightly  loaded, 
the  horses  kept  sinking  to  the  girth,  and  it  was 
only  by  sheer  hard  work  that  we  were  able  to 
average  fifteen  miles  a  day.  Some  days  we  made 
only  five. 

Our  objective  point  was  the  Uchingay,  which 
means  "  Red,"  River.  It  is  a  comparatively 
small  stream,  flowing  into  the  Paran,  near  its 
head.  The  natives  had  told  me  that  at  the  head 
waters  of  this  stream  there  were  two  red  moun- 
tains where  the  rocks  were  filled  with  shiny  yellow 
points.  This  place  lay  about  three  hundred  miles 
north  of  Ghijiga. 

As  we  neared  the  foot-hills  the  trail  became  bet- 
ter. The  tundra  was  one  mass  of  brilliant  flowers, 
like  the  wrecks  of  rainbows.  There  were  plants 
of  almost  infinite  variety,  and  the  ground  was  like 
a  great  expanse  of  variegated  carpeting.  But 
the  flowers!  They  were  indescribably  beautiful. 
Turning  the  shoulder  of  a  hill,  we  would  come 
upon  a  broad  expanse  of  solid  pink  or  scarlet, 
acres  in  extent,  and  this  would  give  way  to  a  blue, 
a  yellow,  or  a  lavender,  either  in  solid  color  or  in 
various  blends.  We  enjoyed  these  beauties  of  na- 
ture, but,  at  the  same  time,  did  not  fail  to  notice 
the  fine  beds  of  wild  onions,  which  we  pulled  and 
ate  with  great  gusto.  We  craved  vegetables  in 
summer  as  keenly  as  we  had  craved  fat  in  win- 
ter.   Hardly  an  hour  passed  that  we  did  not  have 


o 
o 

en 

VI 


>^ 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  263 

a  shot  at  a  duck  or  a  goose,  and  our  journey  was 
consequently  a  continual  feast.  Konikly  and 
Howka  accompanied  us.  They  lived  like  princes 
on  the  tundra  rats,  which  swarmed  about  us. 
The  dogs  caught  them  cleverly,  and  after  one 
good  shake,  bolted  them  whole.  These  nodents 
were  the  size  of  a  small  house  rat. 

On  June  22  we  crossed  the  high  pass  leading 
into  the  valley  of  the  Paran  River.  My  aneroid 
showed  an  elevation  of  six  thousand  feet.  That 
afternoon  we  were  greeted  with  a  storm  of  sleet 
and  snow,  which  drove  us  to  the  shelter  of  a  high 
precipice,  where  we  stayed  close  till  the  following 
day.  The  descent  once  fairly  begun,  we  soon 
came  into  a  more  genial  atmosphere.  Below  us 
in  the  valley  we  could  see  the  heavily  wooded 
banks  of  the  Paran  where  ChrisofFsky  and  his  two 
sons  were  to  leave  me  with  mj''  two  Koreans  and 
Fronyo,  the  Tunguse  guide.  That  night  we 
camped  on  the  bank  of  the  river. 

We  were  now  in  the  primeval  wilderness  and 
had  to  subsist  off  the  land.  There  were  fish  to 
catch  and  there  was  game  to  shoot,  so  there  was 
little  danger  of  our  coming  to  grief.  We  had 
with  us  some  fish-nets.  These  were  made  of 
horsehair  obtained  by  barter  from  Central  Sibe- 
ria. These  nets  are  large  enough  to  hold  a  good- 
sized  salmon.  By  placing  them  at  the  mouths 
of  little  creeks,  and  then  scaring  the  fish  down 


264  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

into  them,  it  was  not  difficult  to  secure  plenty 
to  eat. 

The  Paran,  even  on  its  upper  reaches,  was  a 
formidable  stream  two  hundred  yards  wide,  at 
this  season  swollen  by  melting  snows.  It  was  im- 
perative that  we  cross  this  river,  for  the  Uchingay 
flowed  into  it  from  the  other  side.  Old  Chrisoff- 
sky  had  averred  that  I  would  never  get  across 
alive,  but  I  had  assured  him  that  I  could  if  there 
was  timber  near  by.  I  had  already  guaranteed  to 
pay  for  an}^  horses  that  I  might  lose  during  the 
trip.  When  we  came  down  to  the  bank  of  the 
river  and  saw  the  swift,  sullen  tide,  the  old  man 
laughed  and  said,  "  I  told  you  so."  I  knew  that 
he  would  be  an  impediment  to  me,  and  that  he 
would  do  all  he  could  to  prevent  my  taking  the 
horses  across,  so  I  answered  that  as  it  was  impos- 
sible to  cross  I  would  go  into  camp  and  wait  for 
the  water  to  go  down.  The  old  gentleman  hit  the 
trail  for  home  the  next  day,  carrying  the  tale  that 
for  once  the  American  was  beaten,  and  must  await 
the  pleasure  of  the  Paran  River.  He  would  have 
been  surprised  had  he  seen  us  that  very  night 
safely  on  the  other  side  with  our  baggage  and 
horses  intact.  I  confess  the  crossing  was  no  easy 
feat,  but  it  had  to  be  done.  As  the  river  narrowed 
to  a  gorge  with  dangerous  rapids  less  than  a 
half  mile  below  where  we  stood,  I  went  three 
miles  up  the  stream,  where  I  found  a  lot  of  dead 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  265 

trees,  averaging  some  ten  inches  in  thickness. 
These  we  felled  and  cut  into  twelve-foot  lengths, 
and  bound  them  together  with  walrus  rope,  and 
thus  were  provided  with  a  good  raft.  The  Tun- 
guse  with  his  ax  fashioned  four  rough  sweeps, 
and  we  rigged  up  rowlocks  by  mortising  uprights 
into  the  side  logs  of  the  raft. 

We  first  tried,  unsuccessfully,  to  cross  by 
swimming  the  horses  behind  the  raft ;  the  animals 
kept  trying  to  climb  upon  the  raft.  So  we  put 
back  to  shore.  Then,  making  long  whips,  we 
drove  the  horses  into  the  water  at  a  point  where 
the  current  set  across  toward  the  other  bank.  By 
vigorous  whipping  we  showed  the  horses  that  they 
were  not  to  be  allowed  to  come  back  to  the  shore. 
They  were  swept  off  their  feet,  and  after  one 
or  two  attempts  to  return  they  seemed  to  under- 
stand the  situation,  and  set  out  for  the  farther 
shore,  which  they  reached  after  being  swept 
about  a  third  of  a  mile  down-stream.  Then  we 
shoved  off  and  arrived  without  mishap  on  the 
other  bank  at  almost  the  very  spot  where  the 
horses  had  landed,  and  we  found  them  quietly 
eating. 

It  was  now  late  in  June,  and  the  mosquitos  had 
arrived  in  full  force,  though  the  flies  as  yet  held 
off.  The  former  pests  were  so  thick  that  the  air 
seemed  literally  filled  with  them  as  with  flakes 
of  snow  in  a  heavy  storm.    The  air  was  resonant 


266  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

with  the  deep  humming  sound  from  their  wings. 
We  all  had  to  wear  heavy  gauntlet  gloves  tied 
tightly  about  the  arm,  and  mosquito-hats  made 
after  a  plan  of  my  own.  The  summer  before,  I 
had  made  use  of  a  broad  felt  hat  with  mosquito- 
net  sewed  around  the  rim,  and  with  a  draw-string 
at  the  bottom  to  fasten  it  at  the  throat;  but 
this  had  proved  perfectly  useless  because  the  least 
breath  of  wind  would  blow  it  against  my  face, 
and  instantly  a  hundred  mosquitos  were  at  their 
deadly  work.  Besides  this  the  net  was  continu- 
ally getting  torn  in  the  underbrush;  conse- 
quently, I  was  driven  by  desperation  to  invent 
some  better  way.  I  had  with  me  a  small  roll  of 
fine  wire  screen  for  screening  gold  ore.  It  was 
"thirty-mesh"  (thirty  strands  to  the  inch).  The 
night  after  we  crossed  the  river  I  got  out  this 
roll  of  screen  and  cut  out  pieces  six  inches  wide 
and  twelve  inches  long  and  sewed  them  around 
the  front  rims  of  our  hats.  I  cut  up  a  couple 
of  flour-sacks  and  sewed  the  strong  cloth  all 
around  below  the  wire  screen  and  behind  the 
hat,  gathering  it  with  a  string  at  the  bottom. 
Finally  I  punched  a  small  hole  through  the  wire 
for  my  pipe-stem,  and  with  this  piece  of  armor 
on  my  head  I  could  laugh  at  the  mosquitos,  and 
even  succeeded  in  drinking  tea  through  the  screen. 
When  we  ate  we  were  obliged  to  make  a  big 
smudge  and  sit  in  the  smoke,  and  we  slept  in  our 


I— • 


p 


SIBERIAN   KLONDIKE  269 

hats  and  gloves.  The  special  value  of  the  wire 
screen  became  evident  a  few  days  later  when  the 
flies  began  to  appear.  There  was  one  species  of 
fly  so  small  that  it  could  easily  penetrate  the 
ordinary  mosquito-netting,  but  could  not  possibly 
negotiate  this  wire  screen.  The  bite  of  this  fly 
feels  like  the  prick  of  a  red-hot  needle,  and  two 
days  later  each  bite  becomes  a  running  sore.  The 
flies  are  far  more  to  be  dreaded  than  the  mos- 
quitos. 

The  poor  horses  were  simply  black  with  mos- 
quitos,  though  we  helped  them  as  much  as  we 
could  by  tying  branches  of  leaves  to  the  sad- 
dles and  bridles.  During  the  night  we  provided 
a  good  heavy  smudge  for  the  animals  to  stand  in. 
The  horses  knew  well  its  value,  and  would  crowd 
together  into  the  smoke  to  escape  the  cruel  stings 
of  their  enemies.  At  about  four  o'clock  each 
morning  the  cool  temperature  quieted  the  mos- 
quitos,  and  the  horses  could  get  two  hours  of  feed- 
ing. At  noon,  when  we  lunched,  the  horses  would 
crowd  in  upon  us  in  the  smoke,  and  even  though 
beaten  ofl",  would  persistently  return.  Fre- 
quently the  camp  was  pervaded  by  the  smell  of 
burning  hoofs  and  tails.  The  dogs  sufl*ered  less, 
for  their  hair  protected  them,  and  at  night  they 
would  sleep  with  their  faces  buried  between  their 
paws  so  that  the  mosquitos  could  not  get  at  their 
vulnerable  spot. 


270  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

Having  crossed  the  river,  we  followed  along  its 
eastern  bank  till  we  came  to  the  Uchingay  River, 
and  a  few  days  later  reached  the  head  waters  of 
this  stream.  We  saw  in  the  distance  the  two  red 
mountains.  In  the  stream  I  began  to  find  float- 
rock  containing  iron  pyrites,  and  I  prospected 
carefully  on  all  sides,  but,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  colors  now  and  then,  there  was  nothing  of  in- 
terest. When  we  came  near  the  source  of  the 
stream  I  sunk  shafts  to  bed-rock.  After  a  thor- 
ough examination  of  the  region  I  was  forced  to 
admit  that  the  trip  had  been  a  failure,  and  pre- 
pared to  retrace  my  steps. 

After  two  days  on  the  return  trail,  we  found 
the  water  of  the  stream  fairly  deep,  and  I  deter- 
mined to  make  a  raft  and  float  down  with  my 
Tunguse  guide,  examining  the  outcroppings  on 
either  side  of  the  stream,  while  the  two  Koreans 
took  the  horses  down  along  the  bank.  I  estimated 
that  I  could  go  four  times  as  fast  as  the  horses, 
and  that  if  I  stopped  frequently  to  examine  the 
formations  I  would  arrive  at  the  crossing  of  the 
Paran  at  about  the  same  time  as  the  Koreans. 

So  we  all  went  to  work  and  made  a  raft  of  light 
dry  sticks,  twelve  feet  long  by  about  eight  inches 
in  diameter.  There  were  twelve  sticks  in  all,  and 
the  raft  was  about  seven  feet  wide.  Fronyo  se- 
lected three  good  pieces  of  timber  and  made 
sweeps,  the  extra  one  being  for  emergencies.    We 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  271 

also  had  two  good  stout  poles.  All  our  baggage 
was  loaded  on  the  raft,  fastened  down  securely, 
and  covered  with  a  tarpaulin.  I  then  divided  the 
food  evenly,  giving  the  Koreans  their  full  share, 
and  telling  them  to  go  to  the  point  where  we  had 
crossed  the  Paran,  and  that  if  we  did  not  show  up 
within  a  certain  time  to  make  their  way  across  the 
river  and  return  to  Ghijiga  without  us.  I  gave 
Kim  the  rifle  and  cartridges,  and  half  the  food, 
which  amounted  to  a  little  rice,  half  a  pound  of 
tea,  and  some  hard  bread.  I  also  gave  him  the 
fish-net.     Fronyo  and  I  kept  the  shot-gun. 

We  bade  the  Koreans  good-by,  and  shoved  off! 
into  the  stream,  which  was  running  like  a  mill- 
race.  We  were  kept  busy  steering  the  raft  clear 
of  the  rocks  with  which  the  river  was  strewn.  As 
yet  we  used  only  the  poles.  I  may  as  well  confess 
right  here  that  this  trip  on  the  raft  was  a  fearfully 
hazardous  undertaking,  for  we  never  knew  what 
sort  of  water  we  had  below  us :  so  clumsy  was  our 
craft  there  was  no  chance  of  escape  to  either  bank 
should  danger  loom  suddenly  ahead.  But  the 
hard  work  we  had  experienced  in  making  our  way 
through  the  tangled  woods  made  us  reverse  the 
dictum  of  Hamlet,  and,  rather  than  bear  again  the 
ills  we  had  been  through,  we  flew  to  others  that  we 
knew  not  of.  The  rush  and  swirl  of  the  angry 
waters,  the  narrow  escape  from  the  ragged  crest 
of  a  reef  that  came  almost,  but  not  quite,  to  the 

13 


272  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

surface,  and  was  invisible  thirty  feet  away,  the 
rush  past  steep  cliffs  and  flowery  banks,  all 
formed  such  a  delightful  contrast  to  the  weary 
plodding  through  the  forest  that  we  were  willing 
to  welcome  almost  any  dangers  for  the  sake  of  the 
exhilaration  of  this  mad  dash  down  the  stream. 

The  river  was  only  about  twenty  yards  wide  at 
the  point  where  we  embarked  upon  it,  but  it 
broadened  rapidly  as  it  was  fed  by  tributary 
streams  from  either  side.  Now  and  again  the  cur- 
rent was  divided  by  an  island,  and  then  came  to- 
gether far  below.  All  went  smoothly  the  first 
day,  and  at  four  o'clock  we  tied  up  to  the  bank  and 
prepared  to  camp.  But  so  great  was  our  diffi- 
culty in  finding  any  dry  wood  that  it  was  bedtime 
before  we  had  finished  our  preparations  for  the 
night. 

The  next  morning  we  made  an  early  start.  It 
was  thought  that  we  must  be  near  the  junction  of 
the  Uchingay  and  the  Paran.  Though  a  drizzly, 
sleety  day,  it  did  not  dampen  our  ardor — nor  that 
of  the  mosquitos.  I  had  to  put  on  a  set  of  oilskins 
which  greatly  hampered  my  movements  on  the 
raft.  The  river  had  now  broadened  to  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet,  and  was  indeed  a  mighty 
torrent.  We  tied  up  to  the  bank  frequently  to 
examine  the  outcroppings. 

We  had  congratulated  ourselves  upon  the  ease 
and  rapidity  of  our  run  down-stream,  when  sud- 


y, 


Vl 


o 

3 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  275 

denly  we  sighted  white  water  below  and  knew 
there  was  serious  trouble  ahead.  Our  raft  was  so 
light  that  usually  it  would  pass  over  any  obstacles 
in  the  bed  of  the  stream  or  at  most  scrape  lightly 
upon  them,  turn  around  once  or  twice,  and  then 
float  off  into  smooth  water  below.  Of  course,  if 
the  rocks  came  above  the  surface  it  was  an  easier 
matter  to  go  around  them.  We  managed  to  pass 
through  these  rapids  successfully,  but  immedi- 
ately below  them  we  saw  that  the  stream  divided 
into  two  parts,  the  channel  to  the  left  appearing 
to  be  the  better  one.  We  guided  our  raft  accord- 
ingly, and  soon  found  ourselves  rushing  down  a 
gorge  at  railroad  speed.  The  caiion  began  to 
"  box  up  "  in  an  ugly  manner,  and  our  pace  be- 
came so  great  that  we  lost  control  of  our  little 
craft.  Sweeping  around  a  bend,  we  saw  that  a 
great  tree  had  been  undermined  by  the  water, 
and  had  fallen  out  over  the  stream  so  that  two 
thirds  of  the  narrow  channel  was  completely 
blocked.  We  strove  with  might  and  main  to 
pull  the  raft  to  one  side  in  order  to  evade  dis- 
aster, but  she  might  as  well  have  been  an  ocean 
steamer  for  all  the  effect  of  our  futile  endeavors. 
We  swept  under  and  among  the  branches  of  the 
tree,  and  though  we  hugged  the  raft  as  closely  as 
possible,  we  were  both  brushed  clean  off*.  I 
seized  a  branch  and  tried  to  draw  myself  up,  but 
the  current  snatched  me  away,  and  I  was  swept 


276  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

down-stream.  I  fought  to  regain  the  surface,  but 
could  not  do  it.  My  head  was  fairly  bursting, 
when  I  felt  the  current  pushing  me  up,  and  sud- 
denly I  was  shot  out  of  the  water  and  rolled  up  on 
a  wooden  incline.  As  soon  as  I  could  collect  my 
wits  I  found,  to  my  amazement,  that  I  was  on 
the  raft  again.  It  had  landed  against  a  rock  in 
a  shelving  position,  with  the  lower  side  under 
the  water,  and  the  water  itself  had  provided,  in 
an  almost  miraculous  manner,  the  means  which 
alone  could  save  my  life.  Almost  the  first  thing 
I  saw  was  a  hand  above  the  water,  grasping  the 
edge  of  the  raft,  and  another  feeling  eagerly  for 
a  place  to  get  hold.  Poor  Fronyo  was  under 
water  and  evidently  far  gone.  I  thrust  my  arm  in 
up  to  the  shoulder,  and  got  hold  of  his  hair, 
and  I  had  little  difficulty  in  dragging  him  out 
and  up  on  the  raft.  He  was  almost  unconscious. 
I  took  him  by  the  collar  and  th«  seat  of  the  pants, 
and,  by  pounding  his  stomach  on  the  pack, 
soon  relieved  him  of  the  water  he  had  swal- 
lowed. Twenty  minutes  later  I  was  rejoiced 
to  see  him  quite  himself  again,  although  very 
weak. 

When  he  had  sufficiently  recovered,  we  began 
to  think  of  continuing  our  eventful  journey.  The 
raft  was  firmly  lodged  upon  the  rock,  and  the 
force  of  the  current  threatened  to  break  it  up  at 
any  moment.  I  waded  into  the  water  on  the  sub- 
merged end  of  the  raft  to  ease  the  pressure  on  the 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  277 

rock,  and  then,  with  levers,  we  gradually  swung 
her  about  until  she  drifted  free  of  the  ledge  and 
went  whirling  down-stream. 

By  good  luck  we  encountered  no  more  obsta- 
cles, and  soon  shot  out  into  open  country;  and, 
in  a  drenching  rain,  we  pulled  up  to  the  bank  and 
hastened  to  make  preparations  for  getting  dry. 
Almost  everything  we  had  was  soaking  wet,  but  I 
remembered  that  among  our  impedimenta  there 
was  a  tin  box  containing  some  matches.  I  rum- 
maged around  and  found  it,  but  the  matches  were 
too  damp  to  use.  We  then  hunted  everywhere  for 
a  piece  of  flint,  but  could  find  none.  As  a  last  re- 
source, I  opened  my  medicine  chest  and  took  out 
a  piece  of  absorbent  cotton.  Then  we  secured 
some  dry  chips  from  the  interior  of  a  log  of  dead 
wood.  Opening  three  or  four  of  my  revolver  car- 
tridges, I  poured  out  the  powder  on  the  absorbent 
cotton  and  then  fired  a  blank  shell  into  it.  This 
manoeuver  proved  successful,  and  we  soon  had  a 
roaring  fire.  We  stood  in  the  smoke  and  let  our 
clothes  dry  while  we  fought  the  mosquitos.  Now 
and  then  we  would  make  a  dash  out  of  our  covert 
to  bring  wood  for  the  fire.  In  a  couple  of  hours 
we  were  dry,  and,  lighting  our  pipes,  we  had  a 
good  smoke.  We  were  able  to  laugh,  then,  at  the 
ludicrous  aspect  of  what  had  been  a  mighty  close 
shave.  Fronyo  had  done  better  than  I,  for  he 
had  not  once  loosed  his  hold  on  the  raft;  and  yet 
had  I  not  been  swept  off  and  then  thrown  uj)  on 


278  IN  SEARCH  OF  A] 

the  raift  again,  there  would  have  been  no  one  to 
tell  the  story. 

This  Tunguse,  Fronyo,  was  game  to  the  back- 
bone. When  it  came  time  to  start  out  once  more 
on  our  crazy  craft,  he  crossed  himself  devoutly, 
and  followed  me  without  a  murmur.  He  said 
that  if  God  willed  that  he  should  die  on  that  raft 
he  would  die,  that  was  all.  If  he  did  not  follow 
me  wherever  I  went  he  felt  that  he  would  lose 
caste  with  his  people  and  be  shamed  forever. 

That  day  I  shot  two  sea-gulls  which  had  come 
far  inland  to  nest.  They  were  not  very  savory 
eating,  being  tough  and  insipid.  These  birds 
usually  come  up  into  the  interior  in  May,  and, 
until  the  advent  of  the  salmon,  they  have  little  to 
eat  except  berries.  Each  day  they  make  a  trip 
down  to  the  coast  and  back. 

All  our  sugar  was  melted,  and  our  tea  had  re- 
ceived a  preliminary  steeping;  but  we  dried  it 
out  and  made  it  do.  The  fact  is,  we  were  rather 
badly  off  for  food.  I  had  only  a  few  paper  shells 
left,  and  half  of  these  were  damp. 

The  next  morning  after  our  adventure  in  the 
gorge  we  cut  loose  from  the  bank,  and,  in  an 
hour's  time,  floated  out  of  the  Uchingay  into  the 
Paran,  which  was  a  hundred  and  twenty  yards 
wide,  and  carried  an  immense  volume  of  water. 
The  river  was  in  flood,  and  was  filled  with  small 
islands,  which  made  it  difficult  to  choose  a  route ; 


Keinciecr   Feeding. 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  281 

but  all  went  well,  and  at  four  o'clock  we  pulled 
up  to  the  bank  at  the  spot  where  we  had  first 
crossed,  and  where  we  had  agreed  to  meet  the 
Koreans.  We  settled  down  in  camp,  expect- 
ing to  see  them  on  the  following  day.  That 
afternoon  I  had  the  pleasure  of  killing  a  goose 
with  a  brood  of  little  ones.  After  the  mother 
goose  had  been  killed  the  little  ones  took  to 
a  small  pond,  but  were  hunted  down  and  killed 
in  cold  blood.  It  was  no  time  to  think  of  mere 
sportsmanship,  as  the  law  of  self-preservation  ab- 
sorbed our  thoughts.  Soon  we  heard  the  "  honk- 
ing "  of  the  old  male  goose.  Fronyo  took  the 
dead  goose  and  cleverly  set  it  up  with  a  stick 
thrust  through  its  neck,  and  the  other  end  stuck  in 
the  mud  at  the  bottom  of  the  shallow  pond.  The 
old  gentleman  goose  saw  his  spouse  sitting  quietly 
on  the  water,  and  was  just  settling  down  near  her 
when,  not  receiving  any  answer  to  his  call,  he 
grew  suspicious  and  started  to  rise  again.  I 
could  ill  afford  to  waste  a  single  cartridge,  but  I 
took  the  risk  and  fired.  The  old  fellow  came  to 
the  ground  with  a  resounding  thump.  We  now 
had  over  twenty  pounds  of  good  meat.  Of  the 
little  goslings  we  made  a  soup,  adding  a  good 
quantity  of  wild  onions;  and  it  would  have  been 
a  dish  fit  for  a  king  had  we  possessed  a  little  salt. 
But  our  supply  had  been  melted. 

The  next  day  we  heard  a  rifle-shot  in  the  woods. 


282  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

This  was  the  signal  agreed  upon,  and  soon  Koni- 
kly  and  Howka  canie  running  into  camp  half 
famished,  and  eagerly  bolted  the  bones  that  we 
had  thrown  aside.  We  could  not  waste  a  car- 
tridge on  an  answering  shot,  so  Fronyo  went  out 
to  meet  the  Koreans,  and  soon  brought  them  into 
camp,  and  there  followed  an  interesting  inter- 
change of  experiences  since  we  had  parted  com- 
pany on  the  Uchingay.  I  found  that  they  had 
not  hoarded  their  provisions  at  all,  but,  with  true 
Korean  improvidence,  had  eaten  up  everything. 
For  the  morrow  they  had  no  thought.  I  took  a 
careful  inventory  of  stock,  and  found  that  we  had 
two  geese,  a  little  wet  rice,  some  tea,  and  hard 
bread.  The  outlook  was  certainly  not  pleasing, 
for  it  would  take  at  least  six  days  to  get  within 
the  radius  of  civilization. 

To  recross  the  river  we  used  the  same  heavy 
raft  that  we  had  crossed  on  before,  dragging  it  a 
mile  up-stream  before  venturing  to  embark.  The 
horses  knew  that  they  were  on  the  homeward  trail, 
and  breasted  the  swift  tide  willingly. 

Before  starting  out  to  cross  the  mountains  on 
the  way  to  Ghijiga,  it  was  imperative  that  we 
should  supplement  our  slender  stock  of  food,  for 
there  would  be  several  days  during  which  we  could 
hope  to  get  very  little  along  the  way.  With  our 
small  fish-net  I  tried  a  little  arm  of  the  river,  and 
succeeded  in  catching  two  fine  harritongas,  each 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  283 

weighing  nearly  three  pounds.  They  were  black 
on  top,  with  a  yellow  belly,  and  supplied  us  with  a 
delicious  white  meat.  The  dorsal  fin  extends 
from  the  neck  to  the  tail.  It  is  a  favorite  dish  in 
Russia,  where  it  is  called  the  harra.  Try  as  I 
might,  I  could  catch  no  more. 

I  decided  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  send 
Fronyo  on  ahead  with  the  best  horse  and  most  of 
the  food,  with  instructions  to  hurry  to  Ghijiga 
and  secure  from  the  magistrate  the  necessary 
food,  and  then  hasten  back  to  our  relief.  I  wanted 
certain  special  articles  of  food,  and  as  I  could  not 
write  Russian,  and  as  Fronyo  could  not  be  ex- 
pected to  know  the  different  kinds  of  foreign 
food,  I  was  driven  to  use  the  primitive  ideographic 
method.  My  note  to  the  magistrate,  therefore, 
consisted  of  a  series  of  pictures,  representing 
roughly  the  things  that  I  wanted  and  the  amount. 
First  came  a  picture  of  a  Tunguse  leading  a 
pack-horse,  and  then  the  "  counterfeit  present- 
ment "  of  a  tin  of  beef,  with  the  number  twelve 
appended.  Then  came  loaves  of  bread,  with  tins 
of  butter  following,  and  a  noble  array  of  other 
edibles.  To  my  fancy  it  was  the  most  interesting 
procession  I  had  ever  witnessed. 

Fronyo  said  that  we  need  have  no  fear,  for  if 
worse  came  to  worst,  we  could  live  on  the  wild 
onions  and  the  inside  bark  of  the  fir-trees,  which 
grew  here  and  there  among  the  mountains,  while 


284  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

on  the  tundra  there  were  plenty  of  tundra  rats — 
appetizing  thought  I  Of  course,  if  we  had  been  in 
any  real  danger  of  starvation,  we  could  have  im- 
molated the  horses  and  dogs  on  the  altar  of  Epi- 
curus, but  we  did  not  propose  to  do  this,  except 
as  a  last  resort. 

The  wild  onion  is  considered  the  best  cure  for 
the  scurvy,  and  is  eaten  eagerly  as  soon  as  it  be- 
gins to  appear  in  the  spring.  It  is  said,  though  I 
had  no  opportunity  to  see  a  case,  that  if  scurvy 
is  imminent  and  some  of  the  wild  garlic  is  eaten, 
the  body  breaks  out  in  an  eruption  which  passes 
away  in  a  few  days.  The  onion  seems  to  expel 
the  germs  through  the  skin  by  means  of  this 
eruption. 

The  natives  strip  the  birchbark  from  the  trees 
while  it  is  still  green,  and  cut  it  into  long  threads 
like  vermicelli.  On  entering  a  village  it  is  quite  a 
common  sight  to  see  the  women  cutting  up  this 
bark  for  food.  They  ferment  the  juice  of  this 
birchbark  and  make  a  mild  alcoholic  drink. 
They  also  eat  the  berries  of  the  shad-bush  and  the 
bark  of  the  sallow,  a  kind  of  willow. 

These  people  have  acquired  a  remarkable 
knowledge  of  the  virtues  of  various  plants.  Some 
of  these  tribes  are  accustomed  to  dip  the  points 
of  their  arrows  into  a  decoction  of  a  species  of 
ranunculus,  and  wounds  so  inoculated  are  in- 
curable unless  the  poison  is  immediately  drawn 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  285 

out.  Even  whales,  if  wounded  with  these  arrows, 
come  near  the  shore  and  expire  in  dreadful 
agony. 

Fronyo  started  out  at  a  good  pace  while  we 
stayed  behind  to  try  and  secure  more  game  be- 
fore hitting  the  trail  across  the  mountains.  We 
secured  two  more  fish,  and  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  were  on  the  road,  which  we  kept  till  ten 
o'clock.  The  next  morning,  after  half  a  break- 
fast, we  pushed  on  up  the  valley  through  the  foot- 
hills of  the  range  that  we  had  to  cross,  none  of  us 
any  too  cheerful,  but  all  determined. 

That  day  I  discovered  some  crumbs  of  bread  in 
Pak's  beard,  and  investigation  showed  that  he 
had  been  making  a  square  meal  of  a  large  portion 
of  our  remaining  small  stock  of  bread.  It  may 
be  pardoned  me,  under  the  circumstances,  that  I 
drew  off  and  hit  him  a  good  shoulder  blow  in  the 
left  eye,  which  felled  him  to  the  ground.  This 
proved  to  be  an  unfortunate  form  of  punishment, 
for  he  was  the  Korean  who  possessed  only  one 
good  eye,  and  that  was  good  no  longer.  My 
anger,  righteous  though  it  may  have  been,  turned 
instantly  to  solicitude.  I  blamed  mj'^self  without 
measure  for  my  hasty  action,  went  into  camp  and 
founded  a  hospital  on  the  spot.  For  the  next 
twenty-four  hours  all  my  energies  and  resources 
were  centered  on  that  unhappy  eye.  I  can  truly 
say  that  I  have  never  hit  anything  since  without 


286  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

first  making  sure  that  the  object  of  my  punish- 
ment had  a  spare  eye.  Later  on  my  conscience 
forced  me  to  give  him  a  silver  watch  and  a  new- 
suit  of  clothes.  I  rather  think  the  other  Korean 
envied  him  that  blow  when  he  saw  the  final 
result. 

To  my  vast  relief  the  eye  healed,  and  we  went 
on.  The  third  day  saw  us  over  the  mountains  and 
crawling  across  the  tundra.  We  had  thrown  away 
all  our  bedding  and  blankets,  and  each  was  astride 
a  horse.  On  the  fourth  day  we  were  reduced  to 
wild  onions  and  half -ripe  berries,  which  induced 
a  violent  diarrhea.  We  came  at  last  to  where 
sea-gulls  were  nesting,  but  they  were  so  shy  that 
we  could  not  get  near  them.  Konikly  had  gone 
on  with  Fronyo,  but  we  still  had  Howka  with  us, 
and  he  was  getting  fat  on  the  tundra  rats.  It  was 
to  him,  now,  that  we  looked  for  food.  He  would 
make  a  rush  at  a  sea-gull,  and,  as  the  bird  flew 
from  its  nest  on  the  tundra,  he  would  begin  to 
devour  the  eggs ;  but  we  would  rush  up  and  drive 
him  off*  and  secure  the  loot.  The  eggs  were  far 
gone,  and  would  have  been  ready  to  hatch  in  an- 
other week.  We  boiled  them,  and  the  Koreans 
ate  the  embryonic  sea-gulls  while  I  ate  the  albu- 
minous substance  that  still  remained.  About 
this  time  we  began  to  think  of  sacrificing  one  of 
the  horses  to  the  common  good,  but  no  one  of  us 
was  strong  enough  to  walk,  and  the  horses  were 


O   £L 


n 


n 

ffl 


a3 


O   fo 


o  2. 
ST  B 
!^    !^ 

<-t- 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  289 

therefore  spared.  The  dog  we  could  not  kill,  for 
he  was  our  chief  provider. 

We  plodded  on  until  we  were  about  two  days' 
journey  from  Chrisoff sky's  house,  when  one 
morning  I  descried,  far  across  the  tundra,  a  line 
of  some  fifteen  pack-horses  and  men.  We 
spurred  on  gladly  to  meet  the  welcome  relief. 

I  found  that  half  a  dozen  of  the  officers  and 
men  of  the  steamer  wliich  my  employers  had  sent 
for  me  had  come  to  hunt  me  up.  Never  have  I 
seen  such  a  glorious  sight  as  those  well-dressed 
men  and  those  loaded  horses.  The  captain  dis- 
mounted, and  I  tried  to  address  him  in  Russian, 
but  he  said,  "  You  forget  that  I  speak  English.'* 
Now,  it  may  seem  scarcely  credible,  and  yet  it  is 
true,  that  for  a  few  moments  I  was  almost  totally 
unable  to  converse  with  him  in  my  native  tongue. 
I  had  not  used  a  word  of  it  in  conversation  for 
fourteen  months,  and  mj^  low  physical  condition 
acting  on  my  nerves,  confused  my  mind,  and  I 
spoke  a  jumble  of  English,  Russian,  and  Korak. 
It  was  a  week  before  I  could  talk  good,  straight 
English  again. 

We  camped  right  where  we  had  been  met,  and 
the  packs  were  opened  up  immediatelJ^  I  sat  on 
a  sack  filled  with  potatoes,  and  watched  them 
bring  out  coffee,  then  some  bacon,  then  some 
fresh  eggs !  Then  the  captain  came  with  a  bottle 
of  champagne  and  handed  me  a  glass.     This  I 


290  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

held  in  one  hand,  and  with  the  other  I  reached 
down  and  extracted  a  potato,  and  fell  to  munch- 
ing it  raw,  sipping  the  champagne  between  bites, 
while  I  watched  them  build  a  fire  and  prepare  the 
food.  It  was  a  feast  that  I  shall  never  forget. 
After  it  a  box  of  good  cigars  was  circulated, 
which  added  the  final  touch  to  my  felicity. 

When  the  inner  man  had  been  satisfied,  I 
began  to  think  of  how  the  outer  man  might  be 
improved  upon.  My  clothes  were  in  rags,  my 
weight  had  fallen  from  one  hundred  and  sixty 
pounds  to  one  hundred  and  fifteen,  my  beard  was 
long  and  unkempt,  my  boots  were  in  shreds. 
The  good  friends  had  thoughtfully  brought 
along  my  steamer  trunk,  which  now  lay  in  one 
of  the  tents.  I  ordered  several  kettles  of  water 
heated,  and  stripping  behind  the  tent,  I  threw 
the  noisome  rags,  with  all  their  denizens,  as  far 
into  the  bush  as  I  could,  and  then  went  in  and 
had  a  glorious  tubbing.  I  got  into  a  suit  of  soft 
flannels,  Scotch  tweed  knickerbockers  and  a  Nor- 
folk jacket,  and  after  shaving  and  grooming 
myself  for  an  hour,  the  loathsome  larva  that  had 
crawled  into  camp  emerged  from  that  tent  a  be- 
jeweled  butterfly.  That  delicious  moment  was 
worth  almost  as  much  as  it  cost. 

Then  we  made  our  way  back  to  Ghijiga,  where 
I  distributed  presents  among  my  friends,  native 
and  foreign,  and  boarded  the  steamer  for  Vladi- 


SIBERIAN   KLONDIKE  291 

vostok.  I  reached  that  place  twelve  days  later, 
and  gave  account  of  my  travels  and  explorations. 
The  search  for  a  Siberian  Klondike  had  been,  so 
far,  a  failure.  This  is  not  the  place  for  a  tech- 
nical account  of  mv  observations  in  northern 
Siberia,  but  this  much  I  may  say:  though  there 
may  be  gold  within  the  radius  that  I  covered,  I 
satisfied  myself  that  there  were  no  extensive 
auriferous  deposits  on  the  streams  flowing  into 
the  Okhotsk  Sea  near  its  head,  nor  in  the  beach 
sands  along  the  shore  of  Bering  Sea,  south  of  the 
Anadyr  River.  But,  of  course,  the  whole  ques- 
tion was  not  yet  settled,  for  there  remained  the 
whole  stretch  of  the  northeast  peninsula,  above 
the  point  I  had  reached,  and  it  turned  out  that  i  ly 
work  was  not  yet  finished. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

A  TEN -THOUSAND-MILE  RACE 

Persistent  rumors  of  gold  in  the  Tchuktche  peninsula — 
Count  Unarliarsky — I  am  called  to  Vladivostok  to  fit  out 
an  expedition — Our  vessel  arrives  off  Indian  Point — 
Charging  through  the  ice-floes — A  meeting  with  Eskimos 
—  Our  prospecting  proves  fruitless — We  meet  the  rival 
expedition  in  Plover  Bay — Their  chagrin — The  end. 

THE  winter  following  my  explorations  in 
INTortheast  Siberia  I  spent  in  the  United 
States,  during  which  time  the  papers  contained 
frequent  reports  of  rich  finds  on  the  Siberian 
coast,  opposite  Cape  Nome.  The  company  that 
had  employed  me  still  believed  that  there  was  gold 
to  be  found  in  this  region,  and  were  determined 
to  test  the  matter  thoroughly.  The  papers  stated 
that  the  Russian  Government  had  granted  to 
Count  Unarliarsky  the  mining  rights  to  the  whole 
Tchuktche  peninsula,  which  is  the  extreme  north- 
eastern portion  of  Siberia,  between  the  Anadyr 
River  and  the  Arctic  Ocean.  From  St.  Peters- 
burg we  learned  that  the  Count  must  present  the 
papers  of  his  franchise  to  the  Governor  at  Anadyr 
before   he   could  legitimately   take   possession. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE  295 

Any  claims  staked  out  before  that  time  would  be 
valid,  according  to  Russian  law.  In  order  to  pre- 
sent his  papers  before  the  Governor,  the  Count 
would  have  to  wait  till  navigation  opened  up  late 
in  May,  for  the  town  of  Anadyr  lies  far  up  the 
river  of  that  name,  and  is  ice-locked  till  well  into 
the  summer. 

I  received  a  cablegram  to  hurry  out  to  Vladi- 
vostok, and  make  ready  to  start  at  an  hour's  no- 
tice. It  was  the  intention  of  our  company  to 
charter  a  steamer  for  four  months,  and,  with 
thirty  Russian  miners,  steam  with  all  speed 
toward  the  north,  make  a  hasty  examination  of 
the  beaches  in  question,  and  even  though  there 
might  be  American  miners  there  (who  would  be 
without  Government  permission),  we  were  to 
stake  out  claims  and  then  hurry  to  Anadyr  and 
file  our  papers  before  the  Governor  should  have 
so  much  as  heard  of  the  existence  of  the  Count. 
In  all  this  we  were  well  within  the  law,  and,  as  our 
company  had  already  spent  a  large  sum  of  money 
in  the  work,  it  was  but  right  to  use  every  legal 
means  to  establish  a  claim  to  at  least  a  portion  of 
the  field. 

Through  our  agent  at  St.  Petersburg  we  were 
kept  informed  of  the  movements  of  our  rivals. 
Our  agent  in  San  Francisco  was  instructed  to  in- 
form me,  by  cable,  as  to  what  steamer  the  Count 
chartered,  her  speed  and  equipment.    Meanwhile 

14 


296  IN   SEARCH   OF  A 

I  was  busy  looking  up  a  vessel,  and  after  great 
difficulty,  secured  the  Russian  steamer  Progress^ 
Captain  Gunderson.  I  provisioned  her  for  six 
months,  filled  her  up  with  coal  enough  for  five 
months'  steaming,  -and  by  June  3  everything 
was  ready.  The  previous  day  I  had  received  a 
cablegram  from  San  Francisco,  stating  that  the 
rival  expedition,  under  the  management  of  Count 
Bogdanovitch  and  George  D.  Roberts,  an  Ameri- 
can mining  engineer,  would  sail  from  that  port 
on  June  6.  Their  speed  was  ten  knots,  and 
they  would  stop  at  Nome  and  one  or  two  other 
[United  States  ports.  They  were  in  no  hurry,  and 
were  entirely  in  ignorance  of  our  existence. 
Their  boat  was  the  Samoa,  a  Puget  Sound  lumber 
vessel.  We  could  make  eleven  knots  an  hour,  and 
had  a  slightly  shorter  route  to  follow  than  they. 
Furthermore,  we  knew,  and  they  did  not.  We 
learned  that  at  Plover  Bay,  on  the  Russian  side, 
they  were  to  meet  a  Russian  gun-boat  named  the 
Yakut,  which  would  help  to  drive  away  any 
American  miners  who  might  surreptitiously  have 
opened  up  claims  on  the  Siberian  side.  Of  these 
rumor  said  that  there  were  some  three  thousand. 
At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  June  3 
we  turned  our  prow  seaward,  but,  after  going  a 
hundred  yards,  a  bolt  gave  way  in  the  engine,  and 
we  had  to  lay  up  for  repairs.  I  chafed  at  the  en- 
forced delay,  but  the  next  morning  we  were  oif . 


SIBERIAN   KLONDIKE  297 

Before  we  had  cleared  the  entrance  of  the  long, 
winding  bay,  we  ran  into  a  heavy  fog-bank,  and, 
after  feeling  our  way  along  for  a  while,  we  were 
obliged  to  drop  anchor  again.  When  the  fog 
lifted  we  found  that  we  had  passed  within  a  hun- 
dred yards  of  a  rocky  promontory,  and  had  es- 
caped only  by  good  luck.  It  was  not  till  the  next 
day  that  we  reached  the  open  sea,  and  six  days 
later  we  were  riding  at  anchor  in  the  harbor  of 
Petropaulovsk.  At  that  point  I  put  off  four  men 
to  open  up  a  copper  vein  that  I  had  located  the 
first  time  I  had  passed  that  way.  After  having 
filled  our  water-tanks  again,  we  pushed  toward 
the  north.  In  Bering  Sea  we  found  it  still  cold 
and  foggy,  but  we  kept  the  vessel  up  to  her  eleven 
knots,  even  at  the  risk  of  suddenly  encountering 
ice.  By  keeping  a  sharp  lookout  and  frequently 
taking  the  temperature  of  the  water,  we  lessened 
the  danger  as  much  as  possible. 

Some  of  the  Russian  miners  on  board  were  set 
to  work  making  a  large  United  States  flag,  with 
which  to  decoy  natives  on  board,  for  they  can 
scarcely  be  induced  to  go  on  board  a  Russian  ship, 
because  of  the  rough  treatment  they  frequently 
receive.  On  June  14  the  temperature  of  the 
water  suddenly  dropped  from  forty  to  thirty- 
four  degrees,  which  showed  plainly  that  we  were 
nearing  ice.  We  slowed  down,  and  half  an 
hour  later  sighted  an  iceberg  through  the  mist. 


298  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

As  our  vessel  was  of  steel  and  without  compart- 
ments, a  very  slight  blow  would  put  us  hors  de 
combat  J  so  we  took  eveiy  precaution.  There  were 
but  two  life-boats  for  a  crew  of  seventy  men  in 
all,  many  of  whom  would  be  likely  to  make 
trouble  in  case  of  accident.  The  ship's  officers 
and  I  always  had  our  revolvers  handy  for  any 
emergency. 

On  the  16th  we  arrived  oiF  Cape  Chaplain, 
or  Indian  Point,  as  the  Americans  usually  call  it. 
Between  us  and  the  shore  there  lay  a  band  of  ice 
at  least  thirty-five  miles  broad.  We  tried  to  dis- 
cover an  opening  in  it,  but  without  success.  We 
therefore  headed  for  St.  Lawrence  Island,  which 
lies  near  Bering  Strait  and  belongs  to  Uncle 
Sam.  As  soon  as  we  had  cast  anchor  the  natives 
came  off  to  see  us.  The  men  were  small  but 
stocky,  and  looked  much  like  North  American 
Indians.  Their  women  are  rather  good-looking, 
but  are  accustomed  to  tattoo  as  soon  as  they  reach 
the  age  of  womanhood.  We  found  that  about 
two  thirds  of  the  tribe  were  suiFering  either  from 
the  measles  or  the  grippe.  The  mountains  that 
loomed  up  in  the  background  were  used  as  burial- 
places.  The  dead  were  laid  there,  exposed,  and 
the  dogs  and  wild  animals  soon  disposed  of  them. 
The  higher  the  rank  of  the  dead  man  the  higher 
he  was  placed  on  the  mountain. 

Dr.  Lorego  of  the  Presbyterian  Mission  came 


Picked  up  on  llu'  k-c  olK  St.  Lawrence  Island. 


SIBERIAN  KLONDIKE         301 

off  to  see  us,  and  courteously  invited  us  ashore. 
It  was  an  invitation  that  I  gladly  accepted. 
Through  him  I  learned  from  the  natives  they 
were  unaware  that  any  American  miners  had 
landed  on  the  Siberian  side. 

As  we  were  about  to  weigh  anchor  and  go  in 
search  of  an  opening  in  the  ice  bj^  which  we  could 
reach  the  Asiatic  shore,  a  steamer  loomed  up 
through  the  fog.  She  dropped  anchor  near  us, 
and  I  found,  to  my  delight,  that  she  was  the  ex- 
United  States  cutter  Corwin,  which,  at  that 
time,  belonged  to  the  Corwin  Trading  Company. 
On  board  were  several  American  miners  from 
Nome,  who  were  bound  for  Indian  Point,  where 
they  firmly  believed  gold  was  to  be  found.  The 
captain  of  the  Corwin  kindly  offered  to  guide  us 
through  the  ice,  and,  if  necessarj^  to  lend  us  an 
ice  pilot.  I  therefore  contracted  with  him,  for 
five  hundred  dollars,  to  cut  a  channel  through  the 
ice  to  Indian  Point.  We  learned  that  there  is 
always  a  narrow  strip  of  water  between  the  ice 
and  the  shore  up  and  down  the  coast  at  that  sea- 
son. As  the  wind  was  rising  I  hurried  back  to 
my  vessel  and  asked  our  captain  to  make  ready 
to  follow  the  Comin,  but  within  an  hour  a  gale 
was  raging,  and  the  Cortcin  signaled  us  to  follow 
her  imder  the  slielter  of  the  island. 

It  was  a  beautiful  sight  to  see  Captain  West 
of  the  Corxicin  handle  his  vessel  as  easily  as  though 


302  IN  SEARCH  OF  A 

it  were  a  rowboat  on  a  lake.  He  had  spent 
twenty  years  in  the  Arctic  seas,  and  knew  his 
business  thoroughly.  Before  our  anchor  was 
fairly  up  he  was  steaming  away  before  the  gale  a 
mile  in  advance.  We  followed  him  around  the 
point  of  the  island  to  a  sheltered  nook,  and  there 
dropped  anchor  to  await  the  cessation  of  the 
storm. 

The  next  morning  the  day  broke  fine  and  clear. 
Captain  West  affirmed  that  to  see  a  perfect  sum- 
mer day  one  must  go  to  the  far  north.  The  Cor- 
win  took  the  lead,  and  a  five-mile  iTin  brought  us 
to  the  edge  of  the  ice-pack.  There  the  Corwin 
slowed  down,  and  we  ran  as  close  alongside  as 
was  safe.  Captain  West  shouted  through  the 
megaphone,  "  Good-moming.  I  find  the  ice 
pretty  heavy,  but  it  is  loose,  and  with  care  you 
will  be  able  to  follow  us."  He  then  sent  to  us 
Captain  Coffin,  an  old-time  whaling  captain, 
whom  he  happened  to  have  with  him  on  the  Cor- 
win, to  act  as  ice  pilot  for  our  boat.  Captain 
Coffin  has  a  record  of  over  forty  years  in  the 
north  seas.  As  I  was  anxious  to  have  the  expe- 
rience of  smashing  through  the  ice  on  an  ice- 
breaker, I  went  aboard  the  Corwin.  The  Prog- 
ress followed  about  six  lengths  behind. 

The  Corwin  has  twelve  feet  of  solid  green- 
heart  timber  in  her  bows,  four  feet  of  the  same  on 
the  sides,  and  two  feet  aft.     She  is  barkentine 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  305 

rigged,  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  with  a 
speed  of  nine  knots.  She  is  twenty-four  years 
old,  all  but  one  of  which  have  been  spent  in  Arctic 
waters. 

When  all  is  ready  Captain  West  mounts  to  the 
crow's-nest  to  con  the  ship,  and  Captain  Forrest, 
another  old  whaler,  is  on  the  bridge.  The  wheel 
is  in  the  hands  of  two  intelligent  Boston  sailors. 
Captain  West  sings  out,  "  One  bell — starboard — 
steady!  "  and  we  are  off.  It  looks  as  if  it  were 
going  to  be  a  ticklish  business  for  the  Progress, 
with  only  half  an  inch  of  steel  to  withstand  the 
pressure  of  the  loose  bergs,  but  I  say  to  myself 
that  with  Captain  Coffin  in  the  crow's-nest,  and 
the  Corwin  in  the  lead,  it  is  ten  to  one  that  she 
comes  through  without  even  knocking  the  paint 
off. 

As  we  gather  speed  I  huiTy  to  the  stern  to  see 
how  the  Progress  is  coming  on.  She  winds  her 
way  beautifully  between  the  bergs,  in  and  out 
through  the  passage  which  we  are  making. 

Some  of  the  ice  the  Corwin  can  push  to  one  side 
or  the  other,  but  when  this  is  not  possible  she 
backs  up  in  order  to  get  good  headway,  and 
charges  the  obstruction,  and  strikes  it  fairly  be- 
tween the  eyes.  She  comes  to  a  dead  stop,  and 
quivers  from  stem  to  stern  with  the  tremendous 
impact.  A  rending,  grinding  noise  is  heard,  and 
the  berg  which  challenged  us  is  a  berg  no  longer ; 


306  IN   SEARCH  OF  A 

and  its  fragments  are  brushed  aside  as  we  push 
our  way  through.  Captain  West  laughingly  calls 
from  above,  "  Get  out  of  the  way,  if  you  don't 
want  to  get  hit."  So  on  we  go,  backing  and  turn- 
ing, and  plunging  and  wriggling  through  the  ice. 

As  we  were  thus  engaged  I  espied  a  seal,  about 
three  hundred  yards  off  our  starboard  bow,  and, 
seizing  a  Winchester,  I  let  drive.  The  captain 
called  down,  "  Killed;  good  shot."  I  should  have 
done  well  to  rest  on  my  laurels,  for  though  I  had 
above  forty  more  shots  that  day  I  did  not  kill 
anything. 

By  six  o'clock  we  were  through  the  ice  and  in 
open  water  again,  with  Indian  Point,  or  Cape 
Chaplain,  dead  ahead.  Almost  immediately  we 
were  boarded  by  the  natives,  who  called  out: 

"  Hello,  hello,  how  d'  ye  do?  " 

We  answered  in  kind.  Then,  after  a  string  of 
lurid  oaths  in  bad  English,  they  said: 

"  Plenty  man  cough — make  die — you  got 
medicine  ?  "  But  to  our  question  as  to  how  many 
people  there  were  in  their  village  they  replied: 

"  Don't  know." 

"  Why,  can't  you  count?  " 

"  No;  Siberia  side  all  d— n  fools."  At  which 
we  were  forced  to  smile. 

"  Say,  you  got  chaw  tobacco?  "  I  could  not  re- 
main deaf  to  this  appeal,  so  I  cut  up  a  cigar  and 
watched  it  go  into  their  mouths.    Then,  after  I 


■s 

7T 


1 ' .  t  »i<" 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  309 

had  taken  their  photograph  in  a  group,  we  all 
went  ashore,  where  I  found  a  few  native  skin  huts 
and  one  or  two  houses  built  with  timber  which 
they  had  obtained  in  trade  from  whalers.  These 
were  modeled  after  the  houses  that  the  whalers 
or  missionaries  had  erected. 

Indian  Point  is  a  long,  low  spit  of  land,  and  is 
a  freak  of  nature,  being  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  a  moraine  in  the  sea.  The  great  icebergs 
ground  here  and  melt,  dropping  the  stone  and 
gravel  which  they  have  brought  from  some  dis- 
tant bay  where  they  were  born. 

Kovarri,  the  old  chief  of  the  tribe,  came  aboard, 
and  we  interviewed  him.  He  said  there  were  no 
American  miners  on  the  Siberian  side.  We  did 
not  believe  him  implicitly,  but  found  later  that  he 
had  told  the  truth.  We  succeeded  in  hiring  a 
noted  native  pilot  to  show  us  along  the  coast.  He 
was  named  "  Shoo  Fly,"  and  came  of  very  mixed 
parentage.  These  natives  were  all  large,  strong, 
and  hearty,  and  were  good  sailors,  having  had  ex- 
perience on  many  United  States  whalers,  which 
recruit  their  crews  among  these  men  before  going 
up  into  the  Arctic  Sea.  These  fellows  are  splen- 
did oarsmen,  and  as  good  as  Americans  at  chasing 
whales.  They  speak  a  little  English,  esj^ecially 
the  bad  words,  and  chew  as  much  tobacco  as  they 
can  lay  their  hands  on,  while  as  for  drink,  they 
are  crazy  for  it.    The  natives  just  to  the  south  of 


310  IN   SEARCH   OF  A 

them  are  very  different,  for  they  have  not  come 
in  contact  with  the  whalers  to  so  great  an  extent. 

I  shipped  a  boat's  crew  of  these  men,  and 
steamed  north  to  St.  Lawrence  Bay.  In  the 
steam-launch  we  explored  every  portion  of  the 
shore  of  this  bay,  but  could  find  no  trace  of  gold, 
although  this  was  the  very  spot  that  Count 
Unarliarsky  was  depending  upon  to  make  the 
fortune  of  his  company.  Then  we  steamed  north 
into  Bering  Strait.  Here  lie  the  two  islands, 
"  Big  Diomed  "  and  "  Little  Diomed,"  one  Rus- 
sian and  the  other  American.  After  prospecting 
in  vain  we  returned  to  the  mainland,  and  rounded 
East  Cape,  and  found  ourselves,  for  the  first  time, 
on  the  waters  of  the  Arctic  Ocean.  We  landed  at 
a  little  village  built  on  the  steep  slope  of  a  high 
hill.  It  had  just  lost  one  half  its  population 
through  measles  and  the  grippe.  Corpses  were 
lying  about,  half  eaten  by  the  dogs.  A  little  child 
had  a  leather  thong  tied  through  the  eye-holes  of 
a  skull,  and  was  dragging  it  about  for  a  cart. 
The  child's  father  said  he  did  not  know  whose 
skull  it  was.  After  the  dogs  had  gotten  through 
with  it  how  was  he  to  tell!  These  people  live  in 
regular  Eskimo  huts,  built  of  stone,  in  the  shape 
of  a  half -sphere,  and  with  a  long  tunnel  for  an 
entrance,  through  which  they  crawl  on  hands  and 
knees. 

Nothing  could  be  more  desolate  than  the  pros- 


SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  311 

p€ct  at  this  point.  Behind  the  village  was  a  bleak 
hill.  The  beach  was  only  fifty  feet  wide,  and  be- 
fore it  lay  the  grim  Arctic  Sea.  There  was  only 
one  thing  of  beauty,  and  that  was  the  skin  boats 
of  the  natives,  which  were  drawn  up  on  the  beach. 
They  were  shaped  like  an  American  whale-boat, 
and  were  capable  of  carrying  forty  men.  In 
these  they  follow  the  ice-pack,  and  capture  seals 
and  walruses,  and  occasionally  a  whale.  A  few 
of  the  natives  have  secured  bomb-guns  from  the 
whalers. 

Whenever  a  whaling-vessel  completes  its  cargo 
and  is  ready  to  turn  toward  home,  it  disposes  of 
all  its  whale-boats  to  the  natives,  taking,  in  return, 
whalebone,  ivory,  and  skins.  A  good  boat  will 
bring  one  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  such  goods. 
The  condition  of  these  natives  is  pitiable  in  the 
extreme.  Disease  and  filth  are  doing  their  work, 
and  it  is  a  wonder  that  any  of  them  have  sur\'ived 
as  long  as  they  have.  The  whalers  sell  them 
spirits  at  a  small  price,  and,  being  utterly  without 
self-control,  they  speedily  become  slaves  to  drink. 
The  American  Government  makes  no  effort  to 
stop  this  sort  of  thing,  and  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment can  do  but  little  to  stop  it  with  a  single 
little  gunboat. 

We  went  as  far  north  as  the  Arctic  Circle,  but, 
finding  no  gold  in  the  beach  sands  nor  in  the  float- 
rock  in  the  rivers,  we  turned  south  again,  and, 


312  IN   SEARCH   OF  A 

after  picking  up  some  men  whom  we  had  left  to 
finish  prospecting  St.  Lawrence  Bay,  we  con- 
tinued south,  examining  the  coast  as  we  went. 
We  looked  into  Plover  Bay,  with  the  expectation 
of  finding  the  Samoa  there;  and  not  seeing  her 
we  steamed  out,  and,  with  the  aid  of  the  launch 
and  the  native  boat  crews,  examined  the  southern 
part  of  the  Tchuktche  peninsula.  There  were 
splendid  deposits  of  steaming-coal,  but  the  gen- 
eral geologic  formation  made  it  plain  that  there 
was  no  gold  to  be  found. 

Once  more  we  steamed  into  Plover  Bay,  but 
the  Samoa  had  not  yet  arrived,  and  we  deter- 
mined to  wait  for  her.  Two  days  were  spent  in 
the  pleasant  occupation  of  hunting  eider-duck 
and  making  a  short  trip  into  the  interior.  On 
the  third  day  we  heard,  through  the  fog,  the 
sound  of  a  siren  whistle.  Of  course  we  answered, 
and  an  hour  later  the  Samoa  came  nosing  through 
the  fog  and  picking  her  way  through  the  light 
drift-ice.  As  soon  as  her  anchor  was  down  I  went 
aboard.  As  I  went  up  the  gangway  I  saw  half 
a  dozen  Russians  and  as  many  Americans  stand- 
ing in  a  group  on  the  deck.  I  walked  up  to  them, 
but  before  I  had  time  to  introduce  myself  Count 
Bogdanovitch  said: 

"  Captain,  I  am  glad  to  see  you.  You  have 
some  coal  for  us,  I  believe?  " 

"  No ;  I  have  not  any  for  you,"  I  said,  smiling. 


n 

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SIBERIAN    KLONDIKE  315 

"  Oh,  you  are  a  steam- whaler,"  and  his  face 
fell. 

"  No,  not  a  whaler,"  I  said. 

"  Well,  then,  what  are  you  here  for?  "  he  asked, 
curiously. 

"  I  am  on  the  same  errand  as  you." 

As  soon  as  he  comprehended  he  was  terribly 
angry,  and  apparently  wished  me  at  the  bottom 
of  the  sea.  He  turned  on  his  heel  and  walked 
away,  without  doing  me  the  courtesy  of  asking 
me  into  the  cabin,  although  it  was  raining.  But 
one  of  the  Americans  stepped  forward,  and  I 
was  taken  to  their  quarters,  where  explanations 
followed.  I  told  them  the  situation,  how  that  we 
had  carefully  prospected  all  along  the  coast,  but 
had  found  no  gold.  I  felt  I  was  doing  them  a 
favor  to  let  them  know  that  there  was  no  use  in 
spending  time  and  money  in  a  search  for  gold 
along  the  Siberian  coast  of  Bering  Sea. 
Whether  or  not  they  believed  me  I  cannot  tell, 
but  the  next  morning  we  weighed  anchor,  and 
left  them  there  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the 
Yakut. 

The  search  for  a  Siberian  Klondike  was  over. 


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